Sounding reference signal enhancement for uplink beam management
By defining a beam sweeping range based on downlink receive beams and angular offsets, the method enhances uplink beam management in wireless networks, addressing inefficiencies in UE-network entity connections.
Patent Information
- Application Number
- PCT/CN2024/106899
- Authority / Receiving Office
- WO · WO
- Patent Type
- Applications
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2024-07-23
- Publication Date
- 2026-01-29
AI Technical Summary
Wireless networks face inefficiencies in uplink beam management due to lack of beam correspondence between downlink and uplink channels, particularly in collocated and non-collocated scenarios, leading to ineffective beam sweeping techniques for establishing connections between user equipment (UE) and network entities.
The UE receives an indication of a beam sweeping range defined by a downlink receive beam and an angular offset relative to a downlink reference signal, allowing for efficient SRS transmissions to an uplink receive point, enhancing uplink beam management.
This approach enables effective and efficient SRS transmissions, improving uplink beam management and connection establishment between UE and network entities, even in scenarios with non-corresponding downlink and uplink channels.
Smart Images

Figure CN2024106899_29012026_PF_FP_ABST
Abstract
Description
SOUNDING REFERENCE SIGNAL ENHANCEMENT FOR UPLINK BEAM MANAGEMENT
[0001] FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY
[0002] The following relates to wireless communications, including sounding reference signal enhancement for uplink beam management.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 one or more signals including an indication of a beam sweeping range to be applied during sounding reference signal (SRS) transmissions to an uplink receive point, where the beam sweeping range is defined in accordance with a downlink receive beam corresponding to a downlink reference signal of a downlink transmit point and an angular offset relative to the downlink receive beam and performing the SRS transmissions to the uplink receive point in beam sweeping transmissions according to the beam sweeping range.
[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 one or more signals including an indication of a beam sweeping range to be applied during SRS transmissions to an uplink receive point, where the beam sweeping range is defined in accordance with a downlink receive beam corresponding to a downlink reference signal of a downlink transmit point and an angular offset relative to the downlink receive beam and perform the SRS transmissions to the uplink receive point in beam sweeping transmissions according to the beam sweeping range.
[0007] Another UE for wireless communications is described. The UE may include means for receiving one or more signals including an indication of a beam sweeping range to be applied during SRS transmissions to an uplink receive point, where the beam sweeping range is defined in accordance with a downlink receive beam corresponding to a downlink reference signal of a downlink transmit point and an angular offset relative to the downlink receive beam and means for performing the SRS transmissions to the uplink receive point in beam sweeping transmissions according to the beam sweeping range.
[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 one or more signals including an indication of a beam sweeping range to be applied during SRS transmissions to an uplink receive point, where the beam sweeping range is defined in accordance with a downlink receive beam corresponding to a downlink reference signal of a downlink transmit point and an angular offset relative to the downlink receive beam and perform the SRS transmissions to the uplink receive point in beam sweeping transmissions according to the beam sweeping range.
[0009] In some examples of the method, user equipment (UEs) , and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, the angular offset includes a horizontal angular offset, a vertical angular offset, or both.
[0010] In some examples of the method, user equipment (UEs) , and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, receiving the one or more signals may include operations, features, means, or instructions for receiving a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, where each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources may be associated with a joint or uplink transmission configuration indication (TCI) state that identifies a source reference signal and the downlink receive beam may be identified in accordance with the source reference signal.
[0011] In some examples of the method, user equipment (UEs) , and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, receiving the one or more signals may include operations, features, means, or instructions for receiving a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, where each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources may be associated with a joint or uplink TCI state that identifies a pathloss reference signal and the downlink receive beam may be identified in accordance with the pathloss reference signal.
[0012] In some examples of the method, user equipment (UEs) , and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, receiving the one or more signals may include operations, features, means, or instructions for receiving a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, where each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources may be associated with a joint or uplink TCI state where a specific joint or uplink TCI state may be used to identify the downlink reference signal for SRS resources in the set of SRS resources and the downlink receive beam may be identified in accordance with the downlink reference signal.
[0013] In some examples of the method, user equipment (UEs) , and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, the downlink reference signal includes either a source reference signal or a pathloss reference signal in the specific joint or uplink TCI state that may be associated with a lowest resource identifier.
[0014] In some examples of the method, user equipment (UEs) , and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, the downlink receive beam corresponding to the downlink reference signal may be configured or indicated on a per-SRS resource basis or on a per-SRS resource set basis.
[0015] In some examples of the method, user equipment (UEs) , and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, the downlink receive beam corresponding to the downlink reference signal may be identified as a source reference signal in a current indicated joint or downlink TCI state associated with the downlink transmit point.
[0016] In some examples of the method, user equipment (UEs) , and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, receiving the one or more signals may include operations, features, means, or instructions for receiving a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, where each SRS resources in the set of SRS resources may be associated with a joint or uplink TCI state that identifies the angular offset.
[0017] In some examples of the method, user equipment (UEs) , and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, receiving the one or more signals may include operations, features, means, or instructions for receiving a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, where each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources may be associated with the angular offset.
[0018] In some examples of the method, user equipment (UEs) , and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, receiving the one or more signals may include operations, features, means, or instructions for receiving a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, where the set of SRS resources may be associated with a common angular offset and a set of delta values that, for each corresponding SRS resource in the set of SRS resources, identify the angular offset for the corresponding SRS resource.
[0019] In some examples of the method, user equipment (UEs) , and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources may be indicated with a corresponding delta value from the set of delta values.
[0020] In some examples of the method, user equipment (UEs) , and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources may be indicated with a same delta value from the set of delta values and a corresponding delta value for the corresponding SRS resource may be identified in accordance with an order or index of the corresponding SRS resource in the set of SRS resources.
[0021] Some examples of the method, user equipment (UEs) , and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein may further include operations, features, means, or instructions for receiving a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE) that indicates an update to the downlink reference signal, to the angular offset, or both.
[0022] In some examples of the method, user equipment (UEs) , and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, the update to the downlink reference signal, to the angular offset, or both, may be associated with one or more joint or uplink TCI states.
[0023] In some examples of the method, user equipment (UEs) , and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, the update to the downlink reference signal, to the angular offset, or both, may be associated with one or more SRS resources.
[0024] In some examples of the method, user equipment (UEs) , and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, the update to the downlink reference signal, to the angular offset, or both, may be associated with one or more SRS resource sets.
[0025] A method for wireless communications by a network entity is described. The method may include outputting, to a UE and via a downlink transmit point, one or more signals including an indication of a beam sweeping range to be applied during SRS transmissions to an uplink receive point, where the beam sweeping range is defined in accordance with a downlink receive beam corresponding to a downlink reference signal of a downlink transmit point and an angular offset relative to the downlink receive beam and obtaining the SRS transmissions at the uplink receive point in beam sweeping transmissions according to the beam sweeping range.
[0026] A network entity for wireless communications is described. The network entity 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 network entity to output, to a UE and via a downlink transmit point, one or more signals including an indication of a beam sweeping range to be applied during SRS transmissions to an uplink receive point, where the beam sweeping range is defined in accordance with a downlink receive beam corresponding to a downlink reference signal of a downlink transmit point and an angular offset relative to the downlink receive beam and obtain the SRS transmissions at the uplink receive point in beam sweeping transmissions according to the beam sweeping range.
[0027] Another network entity for wireless communications is described. The network entity may include means for outputting, to a UE and via a downlink transmit point, one or more signals including an indication of a beam sweeping range to be applied during SRS transmissions to an uplink receive point, where the beam sweeping range is defined in accordance with a downlink receive beam corresponding to a downlink reference signal of a downlink transmit point and an angular offset relative to the downlink receive beam and means for obtaining the SRS transmissions at the uplink receive point in beam sweeping transmissions according to the beam sweeping range.
[0028] 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 output, to a UE and via a downlink transmit point, one or more signals including an indication of a beam sweeping range to be applied during SRS transmissions to an uplink receive point, where the beam sweeping range is defined in accordance with a downlink receive beam corresponding to a downlink reference signal of a downlink transmit point and an angular offset relative to the downlink receive beam and obtain the SRS transmissions at the uplink receive point in beam sweeping transmissions according to the beam sweeping range.
[0029] In some examples of the method, network entities, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, the angular offset includes a horizontal angular offset, a vertical angular offset, or both.
[0030] In some examples of the method, network entities, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, outputting the one or more signals may include operations, features, means, or instructions for outputting a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, where each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources may be associated with a joint or uplink TCI state that identifies a source reference signal and the downlink receive beam may be identified in accordance with the source reference signal.
[0031] In some examples of the method, network entities, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, outputting the one or more signals may include operations, features, means, or instructions for outputting a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, where each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources may be associated with a joint or uplink TCI state that identifies a pathloss reference signal and the downlink receive beam may be identified in accordance with the pathloss reference signal.
[0032] In some examples of the method, network entities, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, outputting the one or more signals may include operations, features, means, or instructions for outputting a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, where each SRS resource in the set of may be associated with a joint or uplink TCI state where a specific joint or uplink TCI state may be used to identify the downlink reference signal for SRS resources in the set of SRS resources and the downlink receive beam may be identified in accordance with the downlink reference signal.
[0033] In some examples of the method, network entities, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, the downlink reference signal includes either a source reference signal or a pathloss reference signal in the specific joint or uplink TCI state that may be associated with a lowest resource identifier.
[0034] In some examples of the method, network entities, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, the downlink receive beam corresponding to the downlink reference signal may be configured or indicated on a per-SRS resource basis or on a per-SRS resource set basis.
[0035] In some examples of the method, network entities, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, the downlink receive beam corresponding to the downlink reference signal may be identified as a source reference signal in a current indicated joint or downlink TCI state associated with the downlink transmit point.
[0036] In some examples of the method, network entities, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, outputting the one or more signals may include operations, features, means, or instructions for outputting a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, where each SRS resources in the set of SRS resources may be associated with a joint or uplink TCI state that identifies the angular offset.
[0037] In some examples of the method, network entities, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, outputting the one or more signals may include operations, features, means, or instructions for outputting a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, where each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources may be associated with the angular offset.
[0038] In some examples of the method, network entities, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, outputting the one or more signals may include operations, features, means, or instructions for outputting a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, where the set of SRS resources may be associated with a common angular offset and a set of delta values that, for each corresponding SRS resource in the set of SRS resources, identify the angular offset for the corresponding SRS resource.
[0039] In some examples of the method, network entities, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources may be indicated with a corresponding delta value from the set of delta values.
[0040] In some examples of the method, network entities, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources may be indicated with a same delta value from the set of delta values and a corresponding delta value for the corresponding SRS resource may be identified in accordance with an order or index of the corresponding SRS resource in the set of SRS resources.
[0041] Some examples of the method, network entities, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein may further include operations, features, means, or instructions for outputting a MAC-CE that indicates an update to the downlink reference signal, to the angular offset, or both.
[0042] In some examples of the method, network entities, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, the update to the downlink reference signal, to the angular offset, or both, may be associated with one or more joint or uplink TCI states.
[0043] In some examples of the method, network entities, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, the update to the downlink reference signal, to the angular offset, or both, may be associated with one or more SRS resources.
[0044] In some examples of the method, network entities, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, the update to the downlink reference signal, to the angular offset, or both, may be associated with one or more SRS resource sets.
[0045] 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
[0046] FIG. 1 shows an example of a wireless communications system that supports sounding reference signal (SRS) enhancement for uplink beam management in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure.
[0047] FIG. 2 shows an example of a wireless communications system that supports SRS enhancement for uplink beam management in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure.
[0048] FIGs. 3A and 3B show examples of a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE) that supports SRS enhancement for uplink beam management in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure.
[0049] FIG. 4 shows an example of a MAC-CE that supports SRS enhancement for uplink beam management in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure.
[0050] FIG. 5 shows an example of a wireless communications system that supports SRS enhancement for uplink beam management in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure.
[0051] FIG. 6 shows an example of a wireless communications system that supports SRS enhancement for uplink beam management in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure.
[0052] FIGs. 7 and 8 show block diagrams of devices that support SRS enhancement for uplink beam management in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure.
[0053] FIG. 9 shows a block diagram of a communications manager that supports SRS enhancement for uplink beam management in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure.
[0054] FIG. 10 shows a diagram of a system including a device that supports SRS enhancement for uplink beam management in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure.
[0055] FIGs. 11 and 12 show block diagrams of devices that support SRS enhancement for uplink beam management in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure.
[0056] FIG. 13 shows a block diagram of a communications manager that supports SRS enhancement for uplink beam management in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure.
[0057] FIG. 14 shows a diagram of a system including a device that supports SRS enhancement for uplink beam management in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure.
[0058] FIGs. 15 through 18 show flowcharts illustrating methods that support SRS enhancement for uplink beam management in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure.DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0059] Wireless networks may use various transmission / reception points (TRPs) for communications between the network and user equipment (UE) . Uplink and downlink TRPs may be collocated or non-collocated such that there may be a lack of beam correspondence between the downlink channel and the uplink channel. In a collocated scenario, the lack of beam correspondence may be due to an edge UE or due to different frequency ranges being used for the different channels. The non-collocated example may mean that the propagation path between the UE and the downlink TRP is different from the propagation path between the UE and the uplink TRP. Accordingly, the UE may use various beam sweeping techniques to identify, establish, and maintain a connection between the UE and the network (e.g., to identify uplink / downlink beam pairs at the UE and the network entity) . However, such wireless networks may not provide efficient or effective methods for such beam sweeping techniques to establish the uplink transmit beam between the UE and the uplink TRP.
[0060] Accordingly, aspects of the techniques described herein provide for efficient and effective sounding reference signal (SRS) transmissions from the UE for beam management. For example, the UE may receive or other obtain signal (s) that carry or otherwise convey an indication of a transmit beam and a beam sweeping status to be applied during SRS transmissions. The beam sweeping status may include either a first beam sweeping state where the SRS transmissions are performed using a wide beamwidth corresponding to the transmit beam or a second beam sweeping state where the SRS transmissions are performed using a plurality of narrow beam widths. In some aspects, the plurality of narrow beam widths are within a range of the wide beamwidth of the transmit beam. Accordingly, the UE may perform the SRS transmissions according to the beam sweeping status.
[0061] Additionally, or alternatively, aspects of the techniques described herein provide efficient and effective mechanisms for uplink beam management for an uplink TRP (e.g., in the non-beam correspondence scenario) . For example, a UE may receive signal (s) that carry or otherwise convey an indication of a beam sweeping range to be applied during SRS transmissions to an uplink receive point. In some aspects, the beam sweeping range is defined in accordance with a downlink receive beam corresponding to a downlink reference signal of the downlink transmit point and an angular offset relative to the downlink receive beam. The UE may perform the SRS transmissions to the uplink receive point in beam sweeping transmissions according to the beam sweeping range.
[0062] 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 apparatus diagrams, system diagrams, and flowcharts that relate to SRS enhancement for uplink beam management.
[0063] FIG. 1 shows an example of a wireless communications system 100 that supports SRS enhancement for uplink beam management 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.
[0064] 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) .
[0065] 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.
[0066] 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.
[0067] 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.
[0068] 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) .
[0069] 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) ) .
[0070] 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.
[0071] 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.
[0072] For instance, an access network (AN) or RAN may include communications between access nodes (e.g., an IAB donor) , IAB node (s) 104, and one or more UEs 115. The IAB donor may facilitate connection between the core network 130 and the AN (e.g., via a wired or wireless connection to the core network 130) . That is, an IAB donor may refer to a RAN node with a wired or wireless connection to the core network 130. The IAB donor may include one or more of a CU 160, a DU 165, and an RU 170, in which case the CU 160 may communicate with the core network 130 via an interface (e.g., a backhaul link) . The IAB donor and IAB node (s) 104 may communicate via an F1 interface according to a protocol that defines signaling messages (e.g., an F1 AP protocol) . Additionally, or alternatively, the CU 160 may communicate with the core network 130 via an interface, which may be an example of a portion of a backhaul link, and may communicate with other CUs (e.g., including a CU 160 associated with an alternative IAB donor) via an Xn-C interface, which may be an example of another portion of a backhaul link.
[0073] IAB node (s) 104 may refer to RAN nodes that provide IAB functionality (e.g., access for UEs 115, wireless self-backhauling capabilities) . A DU 165 may act as a distributed scheduling node towards child nodes associated with the IAB node (s) 104, and the IAB-MT may act as a scheduled node towards parent nodes associated with IAB node (s) 104. That is, an IAB donor may be referred to as a parent node in communication with one or more child nodes (e.g., an IAB donor may relay transmissions for UEs through other IAB node (s) 104) . Additionally, or alternatively, IAB node (s) 104 may also be referred to as parent nodes or child nodes to other IAB node (s) 104, depending on the relay chain or configuration of the AN. The IAB-MT entity of IAB node (s) 104 may provide a Uu interface for a child IAB node (e.g., the IAB node (s) 104) to receive signaling from a parent IAB node (e.g., the IAB node (s) 104) , and a DU interface (e.g., a DU 165) may provide a Uu interface for a parent IAB node to signal to a child IAB node or UE 115.
[0074] For example, IAB node (s) 104 may be referred to as parent nodes that support communications for child IAB nodes, or may be referred to as child IAB nodes associated with IAB donors, or both. An IAB donor may include a CU 160 with a wired or wireless connection (e.g., backhaul communication link (s) 120) to the core network 130 and may act as a parent node to IAB node (s) 104. For example, the DU 165 of an IAB donor may relay transmissions to UEs 115 through IAB node (s) 104, or may directly signal transmissions to a UE 115, or both. The CU 160 of the IAB donor may signal communication link establishment via an F1 interface to IAB node (s) 104, and the IAB node (s) 104 may schedule transmissions (e.g., transmissions to the UEs 115 relayed from the IAB donor) through one or more DUs (e.g., DUs 165) . That is, data may be relayed to and from IAB node (s) 104 via signaling via an NR Uu interface to MT of IAB node (s) 104 (e.g., other IAB node (s) ) . Communications with IAB node (s) 104 may be scheduled by a DU 165 of the IAB donor or of IAB node (s) 104.
[0075] 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) .
[0076] 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.
[0077] 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.
[0078] 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) .
[0079] In some examples, such as in a carrier aggregation configuration, a carrier may have acquisition signaling or control signaling that coordinates operations for other carriers. A carrier may be associated with a frequency channel (e.g., an evolved universal mobile telecommunication system terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA) absolute RF channel number (EARFCN) ) and may be identified according to a channel raster for discovery by the UEs 115. A carrier may be operated in a standalone mode, in which case initial acquisition and connection may be conducted by the UEs 115 via the carrier, or the carrier may be operated in a non-standalone mode, in which case a connection is anchored using a different carrier (e.g., of the same or a different RAT) .
[0080] The communication link (s) 125 of the wireless communications system 100 may include downlink transmissions (e.g., forward link transmissions) from a network entity 105 to a UE 115, uplink transmissions (e.g., return link transmissions) from a UE 115 to a network entity 105, or both, among other configurations of transmissions. Carriers may carry downlink or uplink communications (e.g., in an FDD mode) or may be configured to carry downlink and uplink communications (e.g., in a TDD mode) .
[0081] A carrier may be associated with a particular bandwidth of the RF spectrum and, in some examples, the carrier bandwidth may be referred to as a “system bandwidth” of the carrier or the wireless communications system 100. For example, the carrier bandwidth may be one of a set of bandwidths for carriers of a particular RAT (e.g., 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 40, or 80 megahertz (MHz) ) . Devices of the wireless communications system 100 (e.g., the network entities 105, the UEs 115, or both) may have hardware configurations that support communications using a particular carrier bandwidth or may be configurable to support communications using one of a set of carrier bandwidths. In some examples, the wireless communications system 100 may include network entities 105 or UEs 115 that support concurrent communications using carriers associated with multiple carrier bandwidths. In some examples, each served UE 115 may be configured for operating using portions (e.g., a sub-band, a BWP) or all of a carrier bandwidth.
[0082] 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.
[0083] One or more numerologies for a carrier may be supported, and a numerology may include a subcarrier spacing (Δf) and a cyclic prefix. A carrier may be divided into one or more BWPs having the same or different numerologies. In some examples, a UE 115 may be configured with multiple BWPs. In some examples, a single BWP for a carrier may be active at a given time and communications for the UE 115 may be restricted to one or more active BWPs.
[0084] 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) .
[0085] 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.
[0086] 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) ) .
[0087] 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) .
[0088] 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.
[0089] 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.
[0090] 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.
[0091] 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.
[0092] The wireless communications system 100 may support synchronous or asynchronous operation. For synchronous operation, network entities 105 (e.g., base stations 140) may have similar frame timings, and transmissions from different network entities (e.g., different ones of the network entities 105) may be approximately aligned in time. For asynchronous operation, network entities 105 may have different frame timings, and transmissions from different network entities (e.g., different ones of network entities 105) may, in some examples, not be aligned in time. The techniques described herein may be used for either synchronous or asynchronous operations.
[0093] Some UEs 115, such as MTC or IoT devices, may be relatively low cost or low complexity devices and may provide for automated communication between machines (e.g., via Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication) . M2M communication or MTC may refer to data communication technologies that allow devices to communicate with one another or a network entity 105 (e.g., a base station 140) without human intervention. In some examples, M2M communication or MTC may include communications from devices that integrate sensors or meters to measure or capture information and relay such information to a central server or application program that uses the information or presents the information to humans interacting with the application program. Some UEs 115 may be designed to collect information or enable automated behavior of machines or other devices. Examples of applications for MTC devices include smart metering, inventory monitoring, water level monitoring, equipment monitoring, healthcare monitoring, wildlife monitoring, weather and geological event monitoring, fleet management and tracking, remote security sensing, physical access control, and transaction-based business charging.
[0094] Some UEs 115 may be configured to employ operating modes that reduce power consumption, such as half-duplex communications (e.g., a mode that supports one-way communication via transmission or reception, but not transmission and reception concurrently) . In some examples, half-duplex communications may be performed at a reduced peak rate. Other power conservation techniques for the UEs 115 may include entering a power saving deep sleep mode when not engaging in active communications, operating using a limited bandwidth (e.g., according to narrowband communications) , or a combination of these techniques. For example, some UEs 115 may be configured for operation using a narrowband protocol type that is associated with a defined portion or range (e.g., set of subcarriers or resource blocks (RBs) ) within a carrier, within a guard-band of a carrier, or outside of a carrier.
[0095] 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.
[0096] 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.
[0097] In some systems, a D2D communication link 135 may be an example of a communication channel, such as a sidelink communication channel, between vehicles (e.g., UEs 115) . In some examples, vehicles may communicate using vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications, or some combination of these. A vehicle may signal information related to traffic conditions, signal scheduling, weather, safety, emergencies, or any other information relevant to a V2X system. In some examples, vehicles in a V2X system may communicate with roadside infrastructure, such as roadside units, or with the network via one or more network nodes (e.g., network entities 105, base stations 140, RUs 170) using vehicle-to-network (V2N) communications, or with both.
[0098] 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.
[0099] 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.
[0100] The wireless communications system 100 may also operate using a super high frequency (SHF) region, which may be in the range of 3 GHz to 30 GHz, also known as the centimeter band, or using an extremely high frequency (EHF) region of the spectrum (e.g., from 30 GHz to 300 GHz) , also known as the millimeter band. In some examples, the wireless communications system 100 may support millimeter wave (mmW) communications between the UEs 115 and the network entities 105 (e.g., base stations 140, RUs 170) , and EHF antennas of the respective devices may be smaller and more closely spaced than UHF antennas. In some examples, such techniques may facilitate using antenna arrays within a device. The propagation of EHF transmissions, however, may be subject to even greater attenuation and shorter range than SHF or UHF transmissions. The techniques disclosed herein may be employed across transmissions that use one or more different frequency regions, and designated use of bands across these frequency regions may differ by country or regulating body.
[0101] 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.
[0102] 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.
[0103] 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.
[0104] 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) .
[0105] 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.
[0106] 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.
[0107] 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) .
[0108] 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) .
[0109] 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.
[0110] The UEs 115 and the network entities 105 may support retransmissions of data to increase the likelihood that data is received successfully. Hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback is one technique for increasing the likelihood that data is received correctly via a communication link (e.g., the communication link (s) 125, a D2D communication link 135) . HARQ may include a combination of error detection (e.g., using a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) ) , forward error correction (FEC) , and retransmission (e.g., automatic repeat request (ARQ) ) . HARQ may improve throughput at the MAC layer in relatively poor radio conditions (e.g., low signal-to-noise conditions) . In some examples, a device may support same-slot HARQ feedback, in which case the device may provide HARQ feedback in a specific slot for data received via a previous symbol in the slot. In some other examples, the device may provide HARQ feedback in a subsequent slot, or according to some other time interval.
[0111] A UE 115 may receive or obtain one or more signals comprising an indication of a transmit beam and a beam sweeping status to be applied during SRS transmissions, the beam sweeping status comprising either a first beam sweeping state where the SRS transmissions are performed using a wide beamwidth corresponding to the transmit beam or a second beam sweeping state where the SRS transmissions are performed using a plurality of narrow beam widths, wherein the plurality of narrow beam widths are within a range of the wide beamwidth of the transmit beam. The UE 115 may transmit or perform the SRS transmissions according to the beam sweeping status.
[0112] A network entity 105 may transmit or output, to a UE 115, one or more signals comprising an indication of a transmit beam and a beam sweeping status to be applied during SRS transmissions, the beam sweeping status comprising either a first beam sweeping state where the SRS transmissions are performed using a wide beamwidth corresponding to the transmit beam or a second beam sweeping state where the SRS transmissions are performed using a plurality of narrow beam widths, wherein the plurality of narrow beam widths are within a range of the wide beamwidth of the transmit beam. The network entity 105 may receive or obtain the SRS transmissions according to the beam sweeping status.
[0113] A UE 115 may receive or obtain one or more signals comprising an indication of a beam sweeping range to be applied during SRS transmissions to an uplink receive point, wherein the beam sweeping range is defined in accordance with a downlink receive beam corresponding to a downlink reference signal of a downlink transmit point and an angular offset relative to the downlink receive beam. The UE 115 may transmit or perform the SRS transmissions to the uplink receive point in beam sweeping transmissions according to the beam sweeping range.
[0114] A network entity 105 may transmit or output, to a UE 115 and via a downlink transmit point, one or more signals comprising an indication of a beam sweeping range to be applied during SRS transmissions to an uplink receive point, wherein the beam sweeping range is defined in accordance with a downlink receive beam corresponding to a downlink reference signal of a downlink transmit point and an angular offset relative to the downlink receive beam. The network entity 105 may receive or obtain the SRS transmissions at the uplink receive point in beam sweeping transmissions according to the beam sweeping range.
[0115] FIG. 2 shows an example of a wireless communications system 200 that supports SRS enhancement for uplink beam management in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. Wireless communications system 200 may implement aspects of wireless communications system 100. Wireless communications system 200 may include a UE 205 and a network entity 230, which may be examples of the corresponding devices described herein.
[0116] Wireless networks may support a dense uplink (UL) deployment in some scenarios. For example, the dense uplink deployment may improve the coverage and capacity of uplink transmissions from the UE 205. In some examples, the dense uplink deployment may be asymmetric in that there are more uplink transmissions than downlink transmissions. In such an example, the uplink transmissions from the UE 205 may be received at an uplink receive point (e.g., an UL-TRP) . For example, the downlink signals may be transmitted from the network entity 230 which is a different node (e.g., a macro node, a central node, a serving cell, a serving network entity, and the like) than the uplink receive point. The uplink receive points may be associated with the network entity 230 (e.g., via a backhaul network) . Such a deployment scenario may reduce the uplink pathloss, which may be helpful when the uplink coverage is a bottleneck for wireless communications within the network. This deployment scenario may also assist in reducing network deployment cost and complexity since the uplink receive points may not transmit any downlink signals (e.g., they receive the uplink transmission and provide this to the network entity 230 with or without processing) . However, this approach results in a different propagation path for uplink transmissions between the UE 205 and the uplink receive point and downlink transmissions between the UE 205 and the network entity 230.
[0117] Another deployment scenario may include collocated uplink and downlink (DL) TRPs where the UE 205 does not have beam correspondence between the uplink and downlink channels. That is, such deployment scenario may include symmetric downlink and uplink channels but without ideal beam correspondence. Thus, both the downlink and uplink signals may be transmitted or received by the same TRP, but beam correspondence is not supported. Examples of such collocated deployment scenarios without beam correspondence may include the downlink and uplink channels using different frequency ranges, an edge UE, or other situations where the reciprocity between the uplink and downlink channels is absent. Either deployment scenario creates issue with identifying the performance characteristics of the uplink channel since there is no correlation between the downlink channel and the uplink channel.
[0118] Accordingly, one approach to “sound” the uplink channel includes the UE 205 performing SRS transmissions over the uplink channel. For example, an SRS resource set applicability may be configured for the UE 205 using a higher layer parameter (e.g., usage in SRS-ResourceSet) . The usage may be configured as any of beam management, codebook, non-codebook, or antenna switching) . Each SRS resource set may be configured with up to 16, in some examples, SRS resources. The time domain behavior for each SRS resource set may be one of periodic, semi-persistent, or aperiodic. A periodic SRS resource set may be configured using higher layer signaling, such as via RRC signaling. A semi-persistent SRS resource set may be configured using RRC signaling and then activated using a MAC-CE that indicates the SRS resource identifier (ID) in the MAC-CE. An aperiodic SRS resource set may be configured using RRC signaling and then triggered by a DCI. The aperiodic SRS resource set may be triggered using a downlink DCI (e.g., DCI format 1_1 or 1_2) , using an uplink DCI (e.g., DCI format 0_1 or 0_2) , or using a group common DCI (e.g., DCI format 2_3) . An SRS request field in the DCI may indicate one or more SRS resource sets. A mapping between the SRS resource sets and the SRS request codepoint (e.g., 00, 01, 10, or 11) may be provided as part of or otherwise correspond to an aperiodic SRS resource trigger or an aperiodic SRS resource trigger list.
[0119] In the usage case where the SRS resource set is set to beam management, this may be configured to the UE 205 so the UE 205 may try different uplink transmit beams and the network can select a suitable transmit / receive beam. In the context of an uplink dense deployment scenario, not only the transmit / receive beam for uplink transmissions needs to be identified based on the beam management SRS, but also a suitable uplink receive point.
[0120] Moreover, SRS power control management may also be considered. In some wireless networks, this may be based on whether the UE 205 is provided with a TCI state (TCI-State) in a downlink or joint TCI state list or a TCI uplink state (TCI-UL-State) . For each indicated one or two TCI state or TCI uplink state of an SRS transmission occasion, different power control parameters may be determined. For example, if followUnifiedTCI-StateSRS is provided for a SRS resource set, the values of αSRS, b, f, c (qs) and SRS power control adjustment state l are provided by p0AlphaSetforSRS associated with the indicated TCI-State or TCI-UL-State. Else, if followUnifiedTCI-StateSRS is not provided for an SRS resource set and for an SRS resource from the SRS resource set, the values of αSRS, b, f, c (qs) and SRS power control adjustment state l are provided by p0AlphaSetforSRS associated with TCI-State or TCI-UL-State of an SRS resource with lowest SRS-ResourceId in the SRS resource set and a RS index qd for obtaining a pathloss estimate for the SRS transmission is provided by pathlossReferenceRS-Id-r17 associated with or included in the TCI-State or TCI-UL-State of an SRS resource with lowest SRS-ResourceId in the SRS resource set.
[0121] For uplink beam management, the network entity 230 can configure or trigger the UE 205 to transmit SRS for beam management usage. For a unified TCI framework, the uplink transmit beam for SRS transmissions may be determined as follows: for aperiodic SRS for beam management, if followUnifiedTCI-StateSRS is configured for an SRS resource set, the SRS resources in the SRS resource set apply the indicated uplink TCI state or joint TCI state. The UE 205 may transmit the target SRS resource (s) within the SRS resource set according to the spatial relation, if applicable, with a reference to the reference signal used for determining uplink transmit spatial filter. The reference signal is determined based on a reference signal configured with qcl-Type set to 'typeD' in QCL-Info of the indicated TCI-State or a reference signal in the indicated TCI-UL-State. The reference signal (e.g., the source reference signal) in the indicated TCI state may be a CSI-RS. The reference signal (e.g., the source reference signal) in the indicated uplink TCI state can be a CSI-RS, SSB or SRS for beam management.
[0122] For periodic or semi-persistent SRS for beam management or for aperiodic SRS for beam management that is not configured with followUnifiedTCI-StateSRS, SRS resources in any periodic / semi-persistent / aperiodic SRS resource sets for beam management can be configured with a TCI-state or TCI-UL-State or updated by MAC CE. The reference signal (e.g., the source reference signal) in the TCI-state can be a CSI-RS. The reference signal (e.g., the source reference signal) in the TCI-UL-State can be a CSI-RS, SSB or SRS for beam management.
[0123] For SRS for beam management, it is possible to configure the uplink TCI state for the UE 205 after the uplink transmit beam is known. However, for uplink discovery or beam management, the uplink transmit beam is unknown and the intended uplink TRP is also unknown. In some wireless networks and for a unified TCI framework, the SRS is either configured to follow unified TCI state (e.g., for aperiodic SRS for beam management) or configured / indicated with a joint / uplink TCI state (e.g., for periodic / semi-persistent SRS or for aperiodic SRS for beam management that is not configured to follow unified TCI state) . When the joint or uplink TCI state is configured, it is mandatory to configure the source reference signal.
[0124] For example, some wireless networks may be configured such that the network does not configure SRS specific power control parameters, alpha (without suffix) , p0 (without suffix) or pathlossReferenceRS if unifiedTCI-StateType is configured for the serving cell. In this case, each SRS should have a joint or uplink TCI state, either follow indicated TCI state or be configured / indicated with one joint or uplink TCI state by RRC or MAC CE signaling. That is, it is not possible to not configure or indicate any TCI state for an SRS in the case where the unified TCI state is configured. Otherwise, which power control parameters (e.g., p0, alpha or pathlossReferenceRS) to use is unclear given the power control parameters (p0, alpha and pathlossReferenceRS) are associated with unified TCI state.
[0125] Moreover, when a joint or uplink TCI state is configured, the source reference signal in the TCI state is mandatory in some wireless networks. However, for uplink discovery or for uplink beam management in the uplink-only TRP scenario or in the collocated deployment scenario without ideal beam correspondence, the uplink transmit beam and the intended uplink TRP are unknown. In addition, there is no downlink reference signal from the UL-only TRP so it is unclear how to configure / indicate an uplink transmit beam for SRS for uplink discovery or beam management.
[0126] That is, in either deployment scenario without beam correspondence, the downlink signals are transmitted from the downlink TRP. Therefore, the beam correspondence between the downlink and the uplink channels cannot be assumed. Additionally, for symmetric downlink and uplink deployment scenarios without beam correspondence, the uplink beam management may be needed. For example, in order to indicate the uplink transmit beam, a downlink reference signal (e.g., SSB / CRI-RS) may not be used. The uplink beam management without beam correspondence may be done using SRS transmissions (e.g., SRS transmissions where the use case is set to beam management) .
[0127] One approach is to optimize the uplink and downlink beams using a U1, U2, and U3 procedure for beam refinement. The U1 beam refinement procedure may include the UE 205 performing uplink beam sweeping SRS transmissions using a small number of wide transmit beams. For example, the U1 procedure may include the UE 205 performing SRS transmissions using a transmit beam 210, a transmit beam 215, a transmit beam 220, and a transmit beam 225, which are wide transmit beams (e.g., have a wide beamwidth) in this example. Although FIG. 2 shows four wide transmit beams in this U1 procedure example, it is to be understood that the U1 beam refinement procedure may include more or less than four transmit beams.
[0128] The network entity 230 may receive one or more of the SRS transmissions from the UE 205 using the transmit beams of the UE 205 and identify the best performing transmit beam (s) of the UE 205, such as the transmit beam (s) having or otherwise associated with a channel performance metric satisfying a performance threshold (e.g., reference signal receive power (RSRP) , reference signal receive quality (RSRQ) , reference signal strength indicator (RSSI) , signal-to-noise interference ratio (SINR) , or other metric that satisfies the performance threshold) . The network entity 230 may transmit or otherwise output a report to the UE 205 that indicates or otherwise identifies the best performing transmit beam (s) of the UE 205 (e.g., at least including the transmit beam 215, in this example) .
[0129] The U2 beam refinement procedure may include, for a fixed wide beamwidth of the UE 205 that was identified during the U1 beam refinement procedure (the transmit beam 215, in this example) , the network entity 230 performing receive beam sweeping to find the best receive beam. For example, the UE 205 may perform (e.g., during one or more symbols) an SRS transmission or multiple SRS transmissions using the transmit beam 215 (e.g., the transmit beam identified in the U1 procedure that has a wide beamwidth) while the network entity 230 performs beam sweeping using a receive beam 235, a receive beam 240, a receive beam 245, and a receive bam 250 to identify or otherwise determine the receive beam (s) that satisfy a performance threshold (e.g., RSRP, RSRQ, RSSI, SINR, or other performance metric that satisfies the performance threshold) , which may correspond to the receive beam 240 in this example. The network entity 230 may optionally report or otherwise indicate its best receive beam to the UE 205.
[0130] The U3 beam refinement procedure may provide for further uplink beam refinement using narrow transmit beam sweeping around the best wide beamwidth transmit beam identified during the U1 beam refinement procedure. For example, the U3 beam refinement procedure may include the UE 205 performing SRS transmissions (e.g., using SRS resources during one or more symbols) using a transmit beam 255, a transmit beam 260, a transmit beam 265, and a transmit beam 270, which correspondingly have a plurality of narrow beam widths in this example. However, the transmit beams used to perform the SRS transmissions in the U3 beam refinement procedure may be selected such that their respective coverage area is within or within a range of the best performing wide beamwidth discovered during the U1 procedure (e.g., the transmit beam 215 in this example) . The network entity 230 may use its receive beam 240 (e.g., as identified during the U2 beam refinement procedure) to identify or otherwise determine the best uplink transmit beam of the UE 205 from among the narrow beam width transmit beams.
[0131] However, wireless networks do not support such beam refinement procedures for SRS beam management (e.g., for SRS resources with the usage set to beam management) . For example, such networks may not provide a mechanism to distinguish between the U2 and the U3 beam refinement procedures. In particular, for both the U2 and U3 beam refinement procedures, a transmit beam needs to be indicated between the UE 205 and the network entity 230. In the U2 beam refinement procedure, the UE 205 transmits SRS signals using the indicated transmit beam (e.g., the transmit beam 215, in this example) . In the U3 beam refinement procedure, the UE 205 transmit SRS signals using different narrow transmit beams around the indicated transmit beam. Wireless networks may not provide a mechanism so support such beam refinement procedures SRS-based beam refinement when the SRS resources usage is set to beam management.
[0132] Accordingly, aspects of the techniques described herein provide for SRS-based beam management (e.g., using the U1-U3 beam refinement procedure) . Broadly, this may include the UE 205 being configured or otherwise indicated with a transmit beam sweeping status that indicates whether the UE 205 should perform SRS transmissions using the SRS resources in an SRS resource set based on the indicated transmit beam or using different transmit beams within a range of the indicated transmit beam. For example, UE 205 may receive or otherwise obtain (and the network entity 230 may transmit or otherwise output) signal (s) that carry or otherwise convey an indication of a transmit beam and a beam sweeping status to be applied during SRS transmissions. The transmit beam may generally correspond to a transmit beam associated with an SRS resource which is used for U1 beam sweeping or associated with a downlink reference signal of the downlink TRP.
[0133] The beam sweeping status may include either a first beam sweeping state where the SRS transmissions are performed using a wide beamwidth corresponding to the transmit beam (e.g., the transmit beam 215, in this example, during the U2 procedure) or a second beam sweeping state where the SRS transmissions are performed using a plurality of narrow beam widths (e.g., corresponding to the transmit beam 255, the transmit beam 260, the transmit beam 265, and the transmit beam 270, in this example, that are used during the U3 beam refinement procedure) . That is, the plurality of narrow beam widths may be within or within a range of the wide beamwidth of the transmit beam. In this example, this may include the transmit beam 255, the transmit beam 260, the transmit beam 265, and the transmit beam 270 that are within or within the range of the wide beamwidth of the transmit beam 215.
[0134] The UE 205 may perform (e.g., transmit or otherwise output) the SRS transmissions according to the beam sweeping status. For example, the network entity 230 may receive or otherwise obtain the SRS transmissions from the UE 205 according to the beam sweeping status (e.g., according to the first beam sweeping state corresponding to the U2 beam refinement procedure or according to the second beam sweeping state corresponding to the U3 beam refinement procedure) .
[0135] In some aspects, the beam sweeping status may be indicated or otherwise configured on a per-SRS resource basis, on a per-SRS resource set basis, or on a joint or uplink TCI state basis. In some aspects for each SRS resource, a joint or uplink TCI state may be configured or otherwise indicated to identify the transmit beam. For example, the RRC-configured referenceSignal parameter associated with the joint or uplink TCI state may be an SRS used for U1 beam sweeping.
[0136] Accordingly, in some examples the transmit beam sweeping status is per-SRS resource set and the UE 205 may identify or otherwise determine the transmit beam (s) based on the beam sweeping status. For example, when the beam sweeping status is the first beam sweeping state (e.g., the transmit beam sweeping status is OFF) , the UE 205 may transmit in the SRS resource (e.g., perform the SRS transmissions using the SRS resource (s) ) in the SRS resource set using the spatial domain filter that is the same as the spatial domain filter associated with the source reference signal in the corresponding joint or uplink TCI state. For example, the UE 205 may receive or otherwise obtain an indication of the joint or uplink TCI state associated with each SRS resource in the SRS resource set. Accordingly, the UE 205 may apply, for each SRS resources in the SRS resource set, a respective spatial domain filter to SRS resources in accordance with the respective joint or uplink TCI state associated with the SRS resources. The spatial domain filter, in this case, may be identified by, correspond to, or otherwise associated with the respective joint or uplink TCI state. To perform beam sweeping, the respective joint or uplink TCI state associated with different SRS resources can be configured or indicated to be the same.
[0137] In the example where the beam sweeping status is the second beam sweeping state (e.g., the transmit beam sweeping status is ON) , the UE 205 may transmit the SRS resources in the SRS resource set (e.g., perform the SRS transmissions using the SRS resource (s) ) associated with the joint or uplink TCI states using different spatial domain filters that are determined based on the spatial domain filter associated with the source reference signal in the corresponding joint or uplink TCI state. For example, the UE 205 may transmit in the SRS resources using different narrow transmit beams within the indicated wide beamwidth transmit beam to implement the U3 beam refinement sweeping procedure. Accordingly, in this example the UE 205 may receive or otherwise obtain, for each SRS resource in the SRS resource set, an indication of the joint or uplink TCI state associated with the SRS resource. The UE 205 may apply a first respective spatial domain filter to each SRS resource in the SRS resource set in accordance with the corresponding joint or uplink TCI state. The first respective spatial domain filter may be different from a second spatial domain filter associated with a source reference signal in the corresponding joint or uplink TCI state.
[0138] In some examples the transmit beam sweeping status is per-SRS resource and the UE 205 may identify or otherwise determine the transmit beam (s) based on the beam sweeping status. For example, the UE 205 may receive or otherwise obtain an indication of a joint of uplink TCI state associated with an SRS resource. The UE 205 may apply a spatial domain filter to the SRS resource in accordance with a source reference signal in the joint or uplink TCI state. For example, if the beam sweeping status is the first beam sweeping state (e.g., the beam sweeping status is OFF) , the UE 205 may transmit in the SRS resource using the spatial domain filter that is the same as the spatial domain filter associated with the source reference signal in the associated joint or uplink TCI state.
[0139] If the beam sweeping status is the second beam sweeping state (e.g., the beam sweeping status is ON) , the UE 205 may use different approaches for application of the spatial domain filters. One approach may include the UE 205 transmitting in the SRS resources (e.g., perform the SRS transmissions using the SRS resource (s) ) using different spatial domain filters in different OFDM symbols that are determined based on the spatial domain filter associated with the source reference signal in the associated joint or uplink TCI state. For example, the UE 205 may receive or otherwise obtain an indication of the joint or uplink TCI state associated with the SRS resource and apply different spatial domain filters to the SRS resource during different symbols in accordance with the source reference signal in the joint or uplink TCI state. Application of the different spatial domain filters during the different symbols may provide for or otherwise generate the plurality of narrow beam widths used during the SRS transmissions in the U3 beam refinement procedure.
[0140] Another approach may include the UE transmitting in the SRS resource using a spatial domain filter that is different from the spatial domain filter associated with the source reference signal in the associated joint or uplink TCI state. For example, this may include the UE 205 using a narrow beam width within the wide beamwidth transmit beam (e.g., the transmit beam 215) . Across multiple SRS resources associated with the same joint or uplink TCI state, the UE 205 may transmit different SRS resources using different spatial domain filters to implement the U3 beam refinement sweeping. Accordingly, the UE 205 may receive or otherwise obtain the indication of the joint or uplink TCI state associated with an SRS resource and apply a unique spatial domain filter to the SRS resource during different symbols that is different from a spatial domain filter associated with the source reference signal in the joint or uplink TCI state. Application of the unique spatial domain filter during the different symbol may include a narrow beam width (e.g., per-symbol) .
[0141] In some examples, the transmit beam sweeping status is per-joint or uplink TCI state and the UE 205 determines the transmit beams accordingly. If the joint or uplink TCI state is per-SRS resource set and when the beam sweeping status is the first beam sweeping status (e.g., the beam sweeping status is OFF) , the UE 205 may transmit in the SRS resources in the SRS resource set using the spatial domain filter that is the same as the spatial domain filter associated with the source reference signal in the joint or uplink TCI state associated with the SRS resource set. For example, the first beam sweeping state may be configured on a per-joint or uplink TCI state basis. In this example, the UE 205 may receive or otherwise obtain the indication of the joint or uplink TCI state associated with the SRS resource set and apply a unique spatial domain filter to the SRS resources in the SRS resource set in accordance with a source reference signal in the joint of uplink TCI state.
[0142] If joint or uplink TCI state is per-SRS resource set and when the beam sweeping status is the second beam sweeping status (e.g., the beam sweeping status is ON) , the UE 205 may transmit the SRS resources in the SRS resource set associated with a joint or uplink TCI state using different spatial domain filters that are determined based on the spatial domain filter associated with the source reference signal in the joint or uplink TCI state associated with the SRS resource set. For example, the second beam sweeping state may be configured on a per-joint or uplink TCI state basis. In this example, the UE 205 may receive or otherwise obtain the indication of the joint or uplink TCI state associated with an SRS resource set and apply multiple spatial domain filters to SRS resources in the SRS resource set that are different from a spatial domain filter associated with the source reference signal in the joint or uplink TCI state. Application of the multiple spatial domain filters to the SRS resources may include, provide for, or otherwise generate the plurality of narrow beam widths used for SRS transmissions during the U3 beam refinement procedure.
[0143] In the situation where the joint or uplink TCI state is configured per-SRS resource, the UE 205 may determine the beam sweeping status by following the transmit beam sweeping status in the joint or uplink TCI state of the SRS resource with the lowest SRS resource identifier within the SRS resource set. For example, the UE 205 may receive or otherwise obtain the indication of the joint or uplink TCI state associated with an SRS resource and apply a beam sweeping status to the SRS resources within an SRS resource set in accordance with the beam sweeping status in the joint or uplink TCI state associated with a specific SRS resource. The specific SRS resource, in this example, may include the SRS resource with the lowest resource identifier within the SRS resource set.
[0144] In some aspects, various techniques may be used to define or otherwise quantify the plurality of narrow beam widths (e.g., to define what makes a specific beam a narrow beam width) that are within or within the range of the wide beamwidth. One option may include the narrow beam width being based on whether the 3dB beamwidth of the narrow transmit beam is within the 3dB beamwidth of the corresponding wide beamwidth transmit beam. For example, the narrow beam width may be based on whether the 3dB beam width of the narrow transmit beam is within a certain range of the 3dB beamwidth of the corresponding wide transmit beam. Accordingly, in some aspects the plurality of narrow beam widths may be within or within a range of the wide beamwidth of the transmit beam in accordance with, for each narrow beam, a threshold power level (e.g., 3dB) associated with the wide beam width.
[0145] Another option may include the narrow beam widths being based on whether the peak beam direction of the narrow transmit beam is within or within a certain range of the peak beam direction of the corresponding wide transmit beam. For example, the plurality of narrow beams may be within or within the range of the wide beamwidth of the transmit beam in accordance with, for each narrow beam, a threshold beam direction associated with the wide beamwidth.
[0146] Aspects of the techniques described herein further provide for mechanisms for the network to identify or otherwise determine the number of SRS resources that can be configured for U1 and U3 beam sweeping. One such mechanism may be based on UE capability signaling. For example, the UE 205 may transmit or otherwise output UE capability signaling that carries or otherwise conveys an indication of support for hierarchical beam management (e.g., the U1-U3 beam refinement procedure) and the network may configure the UE 205 with the signal (s) indicate the beam sweeping status based on the UE capability signaling. For example, the UE 205 may indicate whether it supports hierarchical beam refinement to the network. In some aspects, the UE capability signaling may carry or otherwise convey an indication of the number or quantity of transmit beams or SRS resources that are supported for U1 beam sweeping, for U3 beam sweeping, or for both U1 and U3 beam sweeping (collectively or separately) .
[0147] For example, the UE 205 may indicate the number of transmit beams or SRS resources that can be supported for U1 beam sweeping, for U3 beam sweeping, or for both beam sweeping and refinement procedures. In some aspects, the signal (s) carrying the indication of the beam sweeping status may be conditioned based on whether the UE indicates support for hierarchical beam refinement. In an indicated candidate value is “0”(e.g., the UE 205 does not support beam sweeping) then the UE 205 may not need to explicitly indicate whether to support hierarchical beam refinement. In this scenario, if the indicated number or quantity of transmit beams for U3 beam sweeping is “0” the UE 205 doesn’t support hierarchical beam refinement. Otherwise, if the indicated number or quantity of transmit beams for U3 beam sweeping is non-zero, the UE 205 support for hierarchical beam refinement may be indicated to the network.
[0148] FIGs. 3A and 3B show examples of a MAC-CE 300 that supports SRS enhancement for uplink beam management in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. Aspects of MAC-CE 300 may be implemented at or implemented by wireless communications system 100 or wireless communications system 200. For example, aspects of MAC-CE 300 may be implemented at or implemented by a UE or a network entity, which may be examples of the corresponding devices described herein.
[0149] As discussed above, aspects of the techniques described herein provide for a UE to be configured with signal (s) that identify or otherwise indicate a transmit beam and a beam sweeping status. The beam sweeping status may be either a first beam sweeping state where SRS transmissions are performed using a wide beamwidth (e.g., during a U2 beam refinement procedure where the beam sweeping status is OFF) or a second beam sweeping state where the SRS transmissions are performing using a plurality of narrow beam widths (e.g., during a U3 beam refinement procedure where the beam sweeping status is ON) . The plurality of narrow beam widths may be within or within a range of the wide beamwidth of the transmit beam. The UE may apply the beam sweeping status and the transmit beam indicated in the signal (s) during SRS transmissions. For example, the UE may perform the SRS transmissions according to the beam sweeping status (e.g., during the U2 beam refinement procedure or during the U3 beam refinement procedure) . As also discussed above, various techniques may be used to configure, indicate, or otherwise identify or map the transmit beam and the beam sweeping status for the UE.
[0150] Moreover, various techniques may be used to signal or otherwise indicate the transmit beam, the beam sweeping status, or both indications to the UE. For example, the transmit beam sweeping status may be indicated by RRC signaling, via a MAC-CE, via DCI signaling, or any combination of such signaling.
[0151] Turning first to the MAC-CE 300-a of FIG. 3A, the indication of the beam sweeping status may be received or otherwise provided in a MAC-CE. The MAC-CE may be a new (e.g., newly defined or configured) MAC-CE or by the SRS TCI state indication carried or otherwise provided in the MAC-CE. In this example, the transmit beam sweeping status is per-SRS resource set. For example, the UE may receive RRC signaling that indicates:
[0152] The RRC signaling configuring the SRS resource set (SRS-ResourceSet) for the UE may identify the SRS resource identifier (srs-ResourceSetId) as well as indicating that the beam sweeping status (BeamSweepStatus) , for example (e.g., either ON or OFF) for the SRS resources in the SRS resource set. In some aspects, the MAC-CE 300 may include a first octet 305 that includes one bit (A / D) indicating whether the MAC-CE is an activation or deactivation MAC-CE. The first octet 305 may also include five bits used to indicate the cell identifier for the SRS resource set and two bits used to indicate the BWP identifier for the SRS resource set. The MAC-CE 300 may include a second octet 310 that includes two reserved (R) bits, one bit (C) that indicates whether the octets containing the resource serving cell identifier field (s) and resource BWP identifier field (s) are present, one bit that indicates whether the MAC-CE applies to the NUL carrier or to the scheduled uplink (SUL) carrier configuration, and four bits used to indicate the SRS resource set identifier.
[0153] The next pair of octets in the MAC-CE may be used to configure the first SRS resource in the SRS resource set. For example, the MAC-CE 300 may include a third octet 315 that includes one reserved (R) bit, five bits used to indicate the TCI state serving cell identifier, and two bits used to indicate the BWP identifier for the TCI state. The MAC-CE 300 may include a fourth octet 320 that includes one reserved (R) bit and seven bits used to indicates the TCI state identifier. This pair of octets (e.g., the third octet 315 and the fourth octet 320) may be for SRS resource 0 in the SRS resource set. This octet pair scheme may continue until a fifth octet 325 that includes one reserved (R) bit, five bits used to indicate the TCI state serving cell identifier, and two bits used to indicate the BWP identifier for the TCI state. The MAC-CE 300 may include a sixth octet 330 that includes one reserved (R) bit and seven bits used to indicates the TCI state identifier. This pair of octets (e.g., the fifth octet 325 and the sixth octet 330) may be for SRS resource N-1 in the SRS resource set (e.g., the last SRS resource in the SRS resource set) .
[0154] In this example where the transmit beam sweeping status is per-SRS resource set, one of the reserved (R) bits in the second octet 310 may be used to indicate the transmit beam sweeping status (e.g., either ON or OFF) for the SRS resources in the SRS resource set. Thus, in this example the beam sweeping status is on a per-SRS resource set basis and a bit in the MAC-CE (e.g., either (R) bit in the second octet 310) may be used to indicate either the first beam sweeping state (e.g., the beam sweeping status is OFF) or the second beam sweeping state (e.g., the beam sweeping status is ON) to the UE.
[0155] Turning to MAC-CE 300-b of FIG. 3B, in some examples the transmit beam sweeping status is indicated or otherwise configured per-SRS resource. The UE may be RRC configured with an indication of:
[0156] that indicates for the UE that the beam sweeping status of the corresponding SRS resource is either ON or OFF. In some aspects, multiple reserved bits (e.g., the reserved bit in the fourth octet 320 corresponding to SRS resource 0 and the sixth octet 330 corresponding to SRS resource N-1) in the SRS TCI state indication MAC-CE may be used where each reserved bit is used to indicate whether the transmit beam sweeping status is ON or OFF for the corresponding SRS resource. Thus, in this example the beam sweeping status is on a per-SRS resource basis and a set of bits (e.g., the reserved bits corresponding to each SRS resource) in the MAC-CE corresponding to SRS resources in the SRS resource set indicates, for each SRS resource, either the first beam sweeping state or the second beam sweeping state.
[0157] In some examples, the indication of the beam sweeping status may be received in a DCI where a bit in the DCI indicates either the first beam sweeping state or the second beam sweeping state for one or more SRS resource sets. For example, in DCI signaling the transmit beam sweeping status may be indicated in the DCI that triggers aperiodic SRS resources for transmission. One bit may be introduced in the DCI to indicate whether the transmit beam sweeping status is ON or OFF for the triggered SRS resource set (s) . In this case, among the triggered SRS resource set (s) the transmit beam sweeping status may apply to the SRS resource set with the usage set to beam management (e.g., beamManagement) . The presence of the one-bit field in the DCI may be RRC configured per-DCI format. For example, the network may control the DCI format 1_1 that has the new field while DCI formats 1_2, 0_1, and 0_2 do not have this field. When the field is not present, a default behavior (e.g., no beam sweeping) may be applied by the UE.
[0158] Thus, in some examples the SRS transmissions may be aperiodic SRS transmissions associated with trigger state (s) where each trigger state is associated with a beam sweeping status that is configured for the UE via RRC signaling. For example, the UE may receive or otherwise obtain a DCI that activates the aperiodic SRS transmissions associated with a trigger state and the UE may apply the beam sweeping status associated with the trigger state during the aperiodic SRS transmissions. Thus, in some aspects for aperiodic SRS transmissions, RRC and DCI signaling may be used to indicate the transmit beam sweeping status. The transmit beam sweeping status (e.g., either ON or OFF) may be configured for each trigger state (e.g., corresponding to SRS resource field 01, 10, or 11) and, depending on the value of the SRS request field, the UE may apply beam sweeping or no beam sweeping (e.g., using a fixed transmit beam) accordingly. Among the triggered SRS resource set (s) , the transmit beam sweeping status may apply to the SRS resource set with the usage set to beam management.
[0159] FIG. 4 shows an example of a MAC-CE 400 that supports SRS enhancement for uplink beam management in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. Aspect of MAC-CE 400 may implement or be implemented by aspects of wireless communications system 100 or wireless communications system 200. For example, aspects of MAC-CE 400 may be implemented at or implemented by a UE or a network entity, which may be examples of the corresponding devices described herein.
[0160] As discussed above, aspects of the techniques described herein provide for a UE to be configured with signal (s) that identify or otherwise indicate a transmit beam and a beam sweeping status. The beam sweeping status may be either a first beam sweeping state where SRS transmissions are performed using a wide beamwidth (e.g., during a U2 beam refinement procedure where the beam sweeping status is OFF) or a second beam sweeping state where the SRS transmissions are performing using a plurality of narrow beam widths (e.g., during a U3 beam refinement procedure where the beam sweeping status is ON) . The plurality of narrow beam widths may be within a range of the wide beamwidth of the transmit beam. The UE may apply the beam sweeping status and the transmit beam indicated in the signal (s) during SRS transmissions. For example, the UE may perform the SRS transmissions according to the beam sweeping status (e.g., during the U2 beam refinement procedure or during the U3 beam refinement procedure) . As also discussed above, various techniques may be used to configure, indicate, or otherwise identify or map the transmit beam and the beam sweeping status to the UE.
[0161] Moreover, various techniques may be utilized to signal or otherwise indicate the transmit beam, the beam sweeping status, or to provide both indications to the UE. For example, the transmit beam sweeping status may be indicated by RRC signaling, via a MAC-CE, via DCI signaling, or any combination of such signaling.
[0162] In some aspects the UE may be configured or otherwise indicated with a joint or uplink TCI state per-SRS resource set. For example, the UE may receive or otherwise obtain an indication of the joint or uplink TCI state for an SRS resource set. The indication of the joint or uplink TCI state may be received via RRC signaling, in a MAC-CE, or using both signaling techniques. In this scenario, if the SRS resource set-level joint or uplink TCI state is configured for the UE, the joint or uplink TCI state may not be configured for each SRS resource in the SRS resource set. That is, the joint or uplink TCI state for the SRS resource set may omit or otherwise not include joint or uplink TCI state information or configurations for SRS resources in the SRS resource set.
[0163] In some aspects, when the joint or uplink TCI state is configured or otherwise indicated per-SRS resource set, the UE may transmit the SRS resources in the SRS resource set using different spatial domain filters that are identified or otherwise determined based on the spatial domain filter associated with the source reference signal in the joint or uplink TCI state. When the joint of uplink TCI state is configured or otherwise indicated per-SRS resource, the UE may transmit in the SRS resources using the spatial domain filter that is the same as the spatial domain filter associated with the source reference signal in the corresponding TCI state. That is, the UE being configured with the joint or uplink TCI state for the SRS resource set may carry or otherwise convey an indication that the beam sweeping status is the second beam sweeping state. Conversely, when the UE is configured with the joint or uplink TCI state per-SRS resource, this may carry or otherwise convey and indication that the beam sweeping status is the first beam sweeping state.
[0164] As discussed, in some aspects the indication of the beams sweeping status may be carried or otherwise conveyed using RRC or MAC-CE signaling. For example, the joint or uplink TCI state for an SRS resource set may be indicated by the RRC signaling below:
[0165] The UE may receive the MAC-CE 400 that carries or otherwise conveys the joint or uplink TCI state for the SRS resource set (e.g., on a per-SRS resource set basis) . For example, the MAC-CE 400 may include a first octet 405 that includes one bit (A / D) indicating whether the MAC-CE is an activation or deactivation MAC-CE. The first octet 405 may also include five bits used to indicate the cell identifier for the SRS resource set and two bits used to indicate the BWP identifier for the SRS resource set. The MAC-CE 400 may include a second octet 410 that includes two reserved (R) bits, one bit (C) that indicates whether the octets containing the resource serving cell identifier field (s) and resource BWP identifier field (s) are present, one bit that indicates whether the MAC-CE applies to the NUL carrier or to the SUL carrier configuration, and four bits used to indicate the SRS resource set identifier.
[0166] The next pair of octets in the MAC-CE 400 may be used to configure the SRS resources in the SRS resource set. For example, the MAC-CE 400 may include a third octet 415 that includes one reserved (R) bit, five bits used to indicate the TCI state serving cell identifier, and two bits used to indicate the BWP identifier for the TCI state. The MAC-CE 400 may include a fourth octet 420 that includes one reserved (R) bit and seven bits used to indicate the TCI state identifier. However, in this example this pair of octets (e.g., the third octet 415 and the fourth octet 420) may carry or otherwise convey the indication of the joint or uplink TCI state for the SRS resource set (e.g., SRS set-level TCI indication) .
[0167] In some aspects, a set of power control parameters for SRS resources in the SRS resource set may be identified or otherwise determined based on the joint or uplink TCI state for the SRS resource set. For example, when the joint or uplink TCI state is configured or otherwise indicated per-SRS resource set, for each SRS resource in the SRS resource set, the power control parameters may be identified or otherwise determined based on the joint or uplink TCI state of the SRS resource set. This may include the values of P0, α and the SRS power control adjustment state l being provided by p0AlphaSetforSRS associated with the TCI-State or TCI-UL-State of the SRS resource set and a reference signal index qd being used for obtaining a pathloss estimate for the SRS transmissions as provided by a pathlossReferenceRS-Id-r17 parameter associated with or included in the TCI-State or TCI-UL-State of the SRS resource set. If the joint or uplink TCI state is associated with a pathloss offset, the pathloss offset may be applied to each SRS resource in the SRS resource set.
[0168] In some aspects, this may include the UE receiving or otherwise obtaining an indication of a joint or uplink TCI state and a beam sweeping status for an SRS resource set. For example, one of the reserved bits (R) in the second octet 410, the third octet 415, or the fourth octet 420 may be used to indicate the transmit beam sweeping status for the SRS resources in the SRS resource set.
[0169] The UE may be configured or otherwise indicated with a joint or uplink TCI state and a beam sweeping status per-SRS resource set. The indication may be provided via RRC signaling, in a MAC-CE, or using DCI signaling to the UE. For example, the UE may receive the following RRC signaling:
[0170] When the beam sweeping status is the first beam sweeping state (e.g., the beam sweeping status is OFF) , the UE may apply, for each SRS resource in the SRS resource set, a spatial domain filter in accordance with the joint of uplink TCI state for the SRS resource set. That is, if the transmit beam sweeping status is OFF, the UE may transmit in the SRS resources in the SRS resource set using the spatial domain filter that is the same as the spatial domain filter associated with the source reference signal in the joint or uplink TCI state associated with the SRS resource set.
[0171] When the beam sweeping status is the second beam sweeping state (e.g., the beam sweeping status is ON) , the UE may apply spatial domain filters to SRS resources in the SRS resource set that are different from a spatial domain filter associated with the joint or uplink TCI state of the SRS resource set. That is, if the transmit beam sweeping status is ON, the UE may transmit in the SRS resources that are associated with the same joint or uplink TCI state using different spatial domain filters that are identified or otherwise determined based on the spatial domain filter associated with the source reference signal in the joint or uplink TCI state associated with the SRS resource set. Application of the spatial domain filters may be used to generate or otherwise provide for the plurality of narrow beams used during SRS transmissions in the U3 beam refinement procedure. Regarding the power control parameters, the power control parameters may be determined based on the joint of uplink TCI state associated with the SRS resource set (e.g., rather than power control parameters configured per-SRS resource in the SRS resource set) .
[0172] FIG. 5 shows an example of a wireless communications system 500 that supports SRS enhancement for uplink beam management in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. Wireless communications system 500 may implement aspects of wireless communications system 100, or wireless communications system 200, or aspects of MAC-CE 300 or MAC-CE 400. Wireless communications system 500 may include a UE 505, a network entity 510, and a network entity 515, which may be examples of the corresponding devices described herein. For example, the network entity 510 may be an example of a downlink TRP and the network entity 515 may be an example of an uplink TRP.
[0173] As discussed above, aspects of the techniques described herein provide various examples of uplink beam management within a wireless network, such as the wireless communications system 500. In particular, wireless communications system 500 illustrates an example of a lack of beam correspondence between the uplink and downlink channels of the UE. In this example, the lack of beam correspondence may be due to the downlink TRP (e.g., the network entity 510) and the uplink TRP (e.g., the network entity 515) being non-collocated. That is, the downlink TRP and the uplink TRP may be geographically separated such that the downlink channel between the UE and the downlink TRP is different from the uplink channel between the UE and the uplink TRP. However, it is to be understood that the techniques described herein are not limited to this non-collocation scenario but may, instead, be equally applicable to a collocation scenario where the downlink TRP and the uplink TRP are collocated, but otherwise have a lack of beam correspondence.
[0174] In the situation where there is a lack of beam correspondence, initial beam acquisition after RRC connection establishment may become an issue due to the network entity (e.g., the downlink TRP, in this example) not having any prior information regarding which uplink TRP will perform satisfactorily with the UE. For example, one way to determine such information is for the UE to autonomously generate the transmit beam directionally and then for the network entity to select the best transmit beam direction, which may be implemented by not configuring a TCI state for beam management SRS or configuring a dummy TCI state for beam management SRS.
[0175] However, giving the UE full freedom to sweep the transmit beam may create uncontrolled interference, which may significantly affect neighboring UE (s) . Such interference may be mitigated with network guidance (e.g., by restricting the beam sweep in a range that is likely to find the best or a sufficiently good transmit beam) . For example, in the U1 beam refinement procedure the network may provide a reference signal identifier for the selected downlink transmit beam and the UE may only be allowed to sweep the transmit beam within an indicated range of the corresponding receive beam. Restricting the uplink beam sweep range may reduce the overhead of the SRS used for uplink beam management.
[0176] Accordingly, aspects of the techniques described herein provide for a transmit / receive beam pattern for uplink beam management. For example, the described techniques enable uplink beam sweeping for both the transmit (e.g., the UE-side) and the receive (network entity-side) beam refinement with reasonable overhead. For example, the lack of beam correspondence may be based on the downlink TRP and the uplink TRP scenario shown in FIG. 5. To indicate the uplink transmit beam direction to the UE 505, the receive beam (e.g., receive beam 525 of the UE 505) associated with a downlink reference signal (transmit beam 520 of the downlink TRP used for transmission of the downlink reference signal) corresponding to the downlink TRP (e.g., the network entity 510) may be used as a reference.
[0177] For example, the UE 505 may receive or otherwise obtain (and the network entity 510 may transmit or otherwise output) signal (s) that carry or otherwise convey an indication of a beam sweeping range to be applied during SRS transmission to the uplink transmit point (e.g., the uplink TRP) . The beam sweeping range may be indicated or otherwise defined in accordance with the downlink receive beam (e.g., the receive beam 525) corresponding to a downlink reference signal (e.g., a downlink reference signal transmitted using the transmit beam 520 of the downlink TRP) of a downlink transmit point (e.g., the downlink TRP) and an angular offset relative to the downlink receive beam. The angular offset may include a horizontal angular offset, a vertical angular offset, or both angular offsets. The UE 505 may perform SRS transmissions to the uplink receive point in beam sweeping transmissions according to the beam sweeping range. For example, the UE 505 may perform SRS transmissions using transmit beam 530, transmit beam 535, transmit beam 540, and transmit beam 545 (e.g., in a beam sweeping transmissions) to the uplink TRP. The uplink TRP may identify or otherwise select an uplink receive beam (e.g., receive beam 550, in this example) based on the beam sweeping transmission from the UE 505, such as the receive beam associated with a channel performance metric that satisfies a performance threshold. Thus, the UE 505 may use the indication of the downlink reference signal (e.g., corresponding to the downlink reference signal transmitted using transmit beam 520) and the angular offset to determine the transmit beam (s) to use for the SRS transmissions in the beam sweeping transmissions.
[0178] In some aspects, different techniques may be applied to carry or otherwise convey the indication of the downlink reference signal, the angular offset, or both, to the UE 505. In some aspects, this may include the UE receiving or otherwise obtaining a configuration for a set of SRS resources (e.g., an SRS resource set) for performing the SRS transmissions.
[0179] For example, the UE 505 may receive or otherwise obtain RRC signaling indicating the parameters below:
[0180] In this example, each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources may be associated with a joint or uplink TCI state that identifies a source reference signal. The downlink reference signal and the corresponding downlink receive beam may be determined or otherwise identified based on the source refence signal. That is, in this example each SRS resource may be associated with a joint or uplink TCI state and the source reference signal in the joint or uplink TCI state associated with the SRS resources may be used as the downlink reference signal for determination of the downlink receive beam (e.g., the receive beam 525) .
[0181] In some aspects, this may include the UE receiving or otherwise obtaining a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions. In this example, each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources may be associated with a joint or uplink TCI state that identifies a pathloss reference signal. The downlink reference signal and the corresponding downlink receive beam may be determined or otherwise identified based on the pathloss refence signal. For example, the UE 505 may receive or otherwise obtain RRC signaling indicating the parameters below:
[0182] In this example, each SRS resource may be associated with a joint or uplink TCI state and the pathloss reference signal in the joint or uplink TCI state associated with the SRS resources may be used as the downlink reference signal for determination of the downlink receive beam (e.g., the receive beam 525) .
[0183] In some aspects, this may include the UE receiving or otherwise obtaining a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions. In this example, each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources may be associated with a joint or uplink TCI state where a specific joint or uplink TCI state is used to identify the downlink reference signal for SRS resources in the set of SRS resources. The downlink receive beam may be determined or otherwise identified based on the downlink refence signal. That is, in this example for SRS resources in an SRS resource set, a same downlink reference signal may be used as the downlink reference signal for determination of the downlink receive beam (e.g., the receive beam 525) . In some examples, the downlink reference signal may include either a source reference signal or a pathloss reference signal in the specific joint or uplink TCI state that is associated with the lowest resource identifier. That is, the source reference signal in the joint or uplink TCI state associated with the lowest SRS resource identifier may be used as the downlink reference signal for each SRS resource in the SRS resource set. Additionally, or alternatively, the pathloss reference signal in the joint or uplink TCI state associated with the lowest SRS resource identifier may be used as the downlink reference signal for each SRS resource in the SRS resource set.
[0184] In some aspects, this may include the downlink reference signal for receive beam determination being configured per-SRS resource (e.g., on a per-SRS resource basis) or per-SRS resource set (e.g., on a per-SRS resource set basis) . For example, the downlink reference signal may be indicated or otherwise configured as an SSB index, a CSI-RS index, or a pathloss reference signal identifier. In the per-SRS resource basis, the UE 505 may receive or otherwise obtain RRC signaling indicating the parameters below:
[0185] In this per-SRS resource basis, each SRS resource may be configured with an associated downlink reference signal. The UE 505 may also be configured with a serving cell identifier and a BWP identifier that the associated downlink reference signal is located in or otherwise associated with.
[0186] In the per-SRS resource set basis, the UE 505 may receive or otherwise obtain RRC signaling indicating the parameters below:
[0187] In this per-SRS resource set basis, each SRS resource set may be indicated or otherwise configured with an associated downlink reference signal. The UE 505 may also be configured with a serving cell identifier and BWP identifier that the associated downlink reference signal is located in or otherwise associated with.
[0188] In some aspects, the downlink receive beam corresponding to the downlink reference signal may be indicated or otherwise identified as a source reference signal in a currently indicated joint of downlink TCI state associated with the downlink TRP. That is, the downlink reference signal may be identified or otherwise determined based on the latest source reference signal in the currently indicated or configured joint of downlink TCI state (e.g., corresponding to the downlink TRP) . Before an indicated joint or downlink TCI state is applied, the downlink reference signal may be identified or otherwise determined based on the SSB the UE 505 identified during the initial access procedure.
[0189] In some aspects, different techniques may be used to carry or otherwise convey the indication of the angular offset (e.g., the horizontal angular offset, the vertical angular offset, or both offsets) to the UE 505. In some aspects, this may include the UE 505 receiving or otherwise obtaining a configuration for a set of SRS resources (e.g., an SRS resource set) to be used for performing the SRS transmission. In this example, each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources may be associated with a joint or uplink TCI state that identifies the angular offset. For example, the UE 505 may receive or otherwise obtain RRC signaling indicating the parameters below:
[0190] Thus, in this example the angular offset information (e.g., αoffset, βoffset) may be configured in a joint or uplink TCI state. For an SRS resource, the angular offset information in the associated joint or uplink TCI state may be used. The angular offset information may be applied to SRS resources with usage set to beam management.
[0191] In some aspects, this may include the UE 505 receiving or otherwise obtaining a configuration for a set of SRS resources (e.g., an SRS resource set) for performing the SRS transmissions. Each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources may be associated with the angular offset. For example, the UE 505 may receive or otherwise obtain RRC signaling indicating the parameters below:
[0192] Thus, in this example the angular offset information (e.g., αoffset, βoffset) may be configured per-SRS resource.
[0193] In some aspects, this may include the UE 505 receiving or otherwise obtaining a configuration for a set of SRS resources (e.g., an SRS resource set) for performing the SRS transmissions. The set of SRS resources may be associated with a common angular offset and a set of delta values that, for each corresponding SRS resource in the set of SRS resources, carry or otherwise convey the indication of the angular offset for the corresponding SRS resource. For example, a common angular offset information (e.g., αoffset, βoffset) may be configured or otherwise indicated for multiple SRS resources in an SRS resource set. A delta value with respect to the common angular offset may be indicated per-SRS resource.
[0194] As one example, each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources may be indicated with a corresponding delta value from the set of delta values. That is, the delta value may be configured or otherwise indicated per-SRS resource. A common delta value may be configured or indicated with respect to
[0195] αoffset-common and βoffset-common or separate delta values may be configured or otherwise indicated with respect to αoffset-common and βoffset-common. For example, the UE 505 may receive or otherwise obtain RRC signaling indicating the parameters below:
[0196] or the following RRC parameters:
[0197] As another example, each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources may be indicated with a same delta value from the set of delta values and a corresponding delta value for the corresponding SRS resource may be identified or otherwise determined in accordance with an order or index of the corresponding SRS resource. That is, the delta value may be configured or otherwise indicated per-SRS resource set and applied to each SRS resource depending on the order or index of the SRS resource within the SRS resource set. For example, if the delta value (e.g., either Δα or Δβ) is indicated as 5 degree, the UE 505 may apply 0, 5, 10, and 15 degrees for the first, second, third, and fourth, respectively, SRS resources within the SRS resource set. Separate delta values may be configured with respect to the horizontal angular offset and the vertical angular offset (e.g., Δα=10, Δβ=5) . If the delta value is zero, all SRS resources may apply the common angular offset with respect to the downlink receive beam. For example, the UE 505 may receive or otherwise obtain RRC signaling indicating the parameters below:
[0198] As the UE 505 moves, the receive beam of the downlink reference signal corresponding to the downlink TRP may change as well as the angular offset information may also change due to the change on location of the UE 505. Accordingly, aspects of the techniques described herein may also provide for the downlink reference signal, the angular offset, or both, being updated via a MAC-CE. For example, a single MAC-CE may be used to updated both the downlink reference signal and the angular offset information or separate MAC-CEs may be used to update the downlink reference signal and angular offset information respectively. For example, the UE 505 may receive or otherwise obtain a MAC-CE that indicates an update to the downlink reference signal, to the angular offset, or to both pieces of information previously configured for the UE 505.
[0199] In some aspects the update to the downlink reference signal, to the angular offset, or both, may be associated with one or more joint or uplink TCI states. For example, the MAC-CE may update the downlink reference signal, the angular offset, or both, information for one or more joint of uplink TCI states. In some aspects, the update to the downlink reference signal, to the angular offset, or both, may be associated with one or more SRS resources. For example, the MAC-CE may update the downlink reference signal, the angular offset, or both, information for one or more SRS resources.
[0200] In some aspects, the update to the downlink reference signal, to the angular offset, or both, may be associated with one or more SRS resource sets. For example, the MAC-CE may update the angular offset information for one or more SRS resource sets. This may include the situation where a common angular offset information is configured or otherwise indicated per-SRS resource set.
[0201] FIG. 6 shows an example of a wireless communications system 600 that supports SRS enhancement for uplink beam management in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. Wireless communications system 600 may implement aspects of wireless communications system 100, wireless communications system 200, or wireless communications system 500 or aspects of MAC-CE 300 or MAC-CE 400. Wireless communications system 600 may include a UE 605, a network entity 610, and a network entity 615, which may be examples of the corresponding devices described herein. For example, the network entity 610 may be an example of a downlink TRP and the network entity 615 may be an example of an uplink TRP.
[0202] As discussed above, aspects of the techniques described herein provide for various techniques to support uplink beam management using SRS transmissions with the usage set to beam management. For example, the UE 605 may receive or otherwise obtain signal (s) that carry or otherwise convey an indication of a beam sweeping range to be applied during SRS transmissions to the uplink TRP. The beam sweeping range may correspond to or otherwise be defined in relation to a downlink receive beam (e.g., the receive beam 625) corresponding to a downlink reference signal (e.g., the transmit beam 620 used for transmission of the downlink reference signal) of the downlink TRP (e.g., the network entity 610, in this example) . The beam sweeping range may further correspond to or otherwise be defined in relation to an angular offset relative to the downlink receive beam. The UE 605 may perform the SRS transmission to the uplink TRP in beam sweeping transmissions according to the beam sweeping range.
[0203] For example, the downlink TRP (e.g., the downlink transmit point) and the uplink TRP (e.g., the uplink transmit point) may be in a non-collocated deployment scenario as shown in FIG. 6. To indicate the uplink transmit beam direction for the SRS transmissions to the UE 605, the receive beam associated with a downlink reference signal corresponding to the downlink TRP may be used as a reference. In some aspects, this may be based on the location of the UE (e.g., xUE, yUE, zUE, ) , the location of the downlink TRP (e.g., x1, y1, z1, ) , and the location of the uplink TRP (e.g., x2, y2, z2, ) . For example, the location information of the UE 605 may be known by the downlink TRP and the location information of the uplink TRP may also be known by the downlink TRP (e.g., via backhaul signaling or other inter-TRP information exchange) .
[0204] The downlink TRP may derive or otherwise determine the horizontal angular offset β between the downlink TRP and the uplink TRP. The horizontal angular offset βmay be derived based on the location of the UE 605, of the downlink TRP, and of the uplink TRP. The downlink TRP may derive the vertical angular α1 between the downlink TRP and the UE based on the location of the UE 605 and the downlink TRP location. The uplink TRP may derive the vertical angular α2 between the uplink TRP and the UE 605 based on the UE location and the uplink TRP location. The uplink TRP may transmit, output, or otherwise provide the vertical angular α2 information to the downlink TRP and the downlink TRP may derive the vertical angular offset using α1-α2. The downlink TRP may carry or otherwise convey an indication of a range (e.g., the beam sweeping range) relative to the downlink receive beam for the uplink transmit beam sweep based on the horizontal angular offset and the vertical angular offset.
[0205] For example, for SRS resource (s) with the usage set to “BeamManagement, ” the UE 605 may be indicated with a transmit beam range by or based on the angular offset information relative to a receive beam of a downlink reference signal for uplink transmit beam sweeping. The angular offset information may include the horizontal angular offset denoted as βoffset and the vertical angular offset denoted by αoffset. The horizontal angular offset may be with respect to the horizontal beam direction of the receive beam corresponding to the downlink reference signal. The vertical angular offset may be with respect to the vertical beam direction of the receive beam corresponding to the downlink reference signal.
[0206] For example, the downlink reference signal may include an SSB or CSI-RS transmission from the downlink TRP using a downlink transmit beam (e.g., the transmit beam 620, which may be associated with a source or pathloss reference signal index or identifier) that corresponds to an uplink receive beam (e.g., receive beam 625) of the UE 605. The uplink receive beam direction may be denoted as (αref, βref) . The UE 605 may perform the SRS transmissions in beam sweeping transmissions according to the beam sweeping range. For example, the UE 605 may perform a first SRS transmission using a transmit beam 630 in a direction according to (αoffset, 1, βoffset, 1) , perform a second SRS transmission using a transmit beam 635 in a direction according to (αoffset, 2, βoffset, 2) , perform a third SRS transmission using a transmit beam 640 in a direction according to (αoffset, 3, βoffset, 3) , and perform a fourth SRS transmission using a transmit beam 645 in a direction according to (αoffset, 4, βoffset, 4) . That is, the transmit beam directions for the beam sweeping SRS transmissions in this example may correspond to (αref + αoffset, 1, βref +βoffset, 1) , (αref + αoffset, 2, βref + βoffset, 2) , (αref + αoffset, 3, βref + βoffset, 3) , and (αref + αoffset, 4, βref + βoffset, 4) for the transmit beam 630, the transmit beam 635, the transmit beam 640, and the transmit beam 645, respectively. The uplink TRP may measure, identify, or otherwise determine that uplink receive beam 650 is the best performing (e.g., channel performance metrics that satisfy a performance threshold) receive beam to be used for uplink transmissions from the UE 605. The uplink receive beam 650 may correspond to transmit beam 635 of the UE 605, in this example.
[0207] FIG. 7 shows a block diagram 700 of a device 705 that supports SRS enhancement for uplink beam management in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. The device 705 may be an example of aspects of a UE 115 as described herein. The device 705 may include a receiver 710, a transmitter 715, and a communications manager 720. The device 705, or one or more components of the device 705 (e.g., the receiver 710, the transmitter 715, the communications manager 720) , 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) .
[0208] The receiver 710 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 SRS enhancement for uplink beam management) . Information may be passed on to other components of the device 705. The receiver 710 may utilize a single antenna or a set of multiple antennas.
[0209] The transmitter 715 may provide a means for transmitting signals generated by other components of the device 705. For example, the transmitter 715 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 SRS enhancement for uplink beam management) . In some examples, the transmitter 715 may be co-located with a receiver 710 in a transceiver module. The transmitter 715 may utilize a single antenna or a set of multiple antennas.
[0210] The communications manager 720, the receiver 710, the transmitter 715, or various combinations or components thereof may be examples of means for performing various aspects of SRS enhancement for uplink beam management as described herein. For example, the communications manager 720, the receiver 710, the transmitter 715, or various combinations or components thereof may be capable of performing one or more of the functions described herein.
[0211] In some examples, the communications manager 720, the receiver 710, the transmitter 715, 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) .
[0212] Additionally, or alternatively, the communications manager 720, the receiver 710, the transmitter 715, 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 720, the receiver 710, the transmitter 715, 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) .
[0213] In some examples, the communications manager 720 may be configured to perform various operations (e.g., receiving, obtaining, monitoring, outputting, transmitting) using or otherwise in cooperation with the receiver 710, the transmitter 715, or both. For example, the communications manager 720 may receive information from the receiver 710, send information to the transmitter 715, or be integrated in combination with the receiver 710, the transmitter 715, or both to obtain information, output information, or perform various other operations as described herein.
[0214] 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 one or more signals including an indication of a transmit beam and a beam sweeping status to be applied during SRS transmissions, the beam sweeping status including either a first beam sweeping state where the SRS transmissions are performed using a wide beamwidth corresponding to the transmit beam or a second beam sweeping state where the SRS transmissions are performed using a set of multiple narrow beam widths, where the set of multiple narrow beam widths are within a range of the wide beamwidth of the transmit beam. The communications manager 720 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for performing the SRS transmissions according to the beam sweeping status.
[0215] Additionally, or alternatively, 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 one or more signals including an indication of a beam sweeping range to be applied during SRS transmissions to an uplink receive point, where the beam sweeping range is defined in accordance with a downlink receive beam corresponding to a downlink reference signal of a downlink transmit point and an angular offset relative to the downlink receive beam. The communications manager 720 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for performing the SRS transmissions to the uplink receive point in beam sweeping transmissions according to the beam sweeping range.
[0216] By including or configuring the communications manager 720 in accordance with examples as described herein, the device 705 (e.g., at least one processor controlling or otherwise coupled with the receiver 710, the transmitter 715, the communications manager 720, or a combination thereof) may support techniques for SRS-based uplink beam management when the usage of the SRS resources are set to beam management. This may include the U1-U3 beam refinement procedure being supported based on beam sweeping status signaling. This may include the SRS beam sweeping being based on a beams sweeping range indicated to the UE.
[0217] FIG. 8 shows a block diagram 800 of a device 805 that supports SRS enhancement for uplink beam management in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. The device 805 may be an example of aspects of a device 705 or a UE 115 as described herein. The device 805 may include a receiver 810, a transmitter 815, and a communications manager 820. The device 805, or one of more components of the device 805 (e.g., the receiver 810, the transmitter 815, the communications manager 820) , 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) .
[0218] The receiver 810 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 SRS enhancement for uplink beam management) . Information may be passed on to other components of the device 805. The receiver 810 may utilize a single antenna or a set of multiple antennas.
[0219] The transmitter 815 may provide a means for transmitting signals generated by other components of the device 805. For example, the transmitter 815 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 SRS enhancement for uplink beam management) . In some examples, the transmitter 815 may be co-located with a receiver 810 in a transceiver module. The transmitter 815 may utilize a single antenna or a set of multiple antennas.
[0220] The device 805, or various components thereof, may be an example of means for performing various aspects of SRS enhancement for uplink beam management as described herein. For example, the communications manager 820 may include a beam sweeping manager 825, an SRS manager 830, a beam sweeping range manager 835, or any combination thereof. The communications manager 820 may be an example of aspects of a communications manager 720 as described herein. In some examples, the communications manager 820, 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 810, the transmitter 815, or both. For example, the communications manager 820 may receive information from the receiver 810, send information to the transmitter 815, or be integrated in combination with the receiver 810, the transmitter 815, or both to obtain information, output information, or perform various other operations as described herein.
[0221] The communications manager 820 may support wireless communications in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. The beam sweeping manager 825 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for receiving one or more signals including an indication of a transmit beam and a beam sweeping status to be applied during SRS transmissions, the beam sweeping status including either a first beam sweeping state where the SRS transmissions are performed using a wide beamwidth corresponding to the transmit beam or a second beam sweeping state where the SRS transmissions are performed using a set of multiple narrow beam widths, where the set of multiple narrow beam widths are within a range of the wide beamwidth of the transmit beam. The SRS manager 830 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for performing the SRS transmissions according to the beam sweeping status.
[0222] Additionally, or alternatively, the communications manager 820 may support wireless communications in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. The beam sweeping range manager 835 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for receiving one or more signals including an indication of a beam sweeping range to be applied during SRS transmissions to an uplink receive point, where the beam sweeping range is defined in accordance with a downlink receive beam corresponding to a downlink reference signal of a downlink transmit point and an angular offset relative to the downlink receive beam. The SRS manager 830 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for performing the SRS transmissions to the uplink receive point in beam sweeping transmissions according to the beam sweeping range.
[0223] FIG. 9 shows a block diagram 900 of a communications manager 920 that supports SRS enhancement for uplink beam management in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. The communications manager 920 may be an example of aspects of a communications manager 720, a communications manager 820, or both, as described herein. The communications manager 920, or various components thereof, may be an example of means for performing various aspects of SRS enhancement for uplink beam management as described herein. For example, the communications manager 920 may include a beam sweeping manager 925, an SRS manager 930, a beam sweeping range manager 935, an SRS resource set manager 940, an SRS resource manager 945, a Joint or uplink TCI state manager 950, a UE capability manager 955, a downlink receive beam manager 960, an angular offset manager 965, an update manager 970, a DCI manager 975, 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) .
[0224] The communications manager 920 may support wireless communications in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. The beam sweeping manager 925 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for receiving one or more signals including an indication of a transmit beam and a beam sweeping status to be applied during SRS transmissions, the beam sweeping status including either a first beam sweeping state where the SRS transmissions are performed using a wide beamwidth corresponding to the transmit beam or a second beam sweeping state where the SRS transmissions are performed using a set of multiple narrow beam widths, where the set of multiple narrow beam widths are within a range of the wide beamwidth of the transmit beam. The SRS manager 930 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for performing the SRS transmissions according to the beam sweeping status.
[0225] In some examples, the beam sweeping status is configured on at least one of a per-SRS resource basis, a per-SRS resource set basis, or a per-joint or uplink TCI state basis. In some examples, the first beam sweeping state is configured on a per-SRS resource set basis, and the SRS resource set manager 940 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for receiving an indication of a joint or uplink TCI state associated with each SRS resource in an SRS resource set. In some examples, the first beam sweeping state is configured on a per-SRS resource set basis, and the SRS resource set manager 940 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for applying, for each SRS resource in the SRS resource set, a spatial domain filter to SRS resources in accordance with the joint or uplink TCI state associated with the SRS resource, where the spatial domain filter is associated with a source reference signal in the joint or uplink TCI state.
[0226] In some examples, the second beam sweeping state is configured on a per-SRS resource set basis, and the SRS resource set manager 940 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for receiving, for each SRS resource in an SRS resource set, an indication of a joint or uplink TCI state associated with the SRS resource. In some examples, the second beam sweeping state is configured on a per-SRS resource set basis, and the SRS resource set manager 940 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for applying a first spatial domain filter to each SRS resource in the SRS resource set in accordance with the joint or uplink TCI state of the SRS resource, where the first spatial domain filter is different from a second spatial domain filter associated with a source reference signal in the joint or uplink TCI state of the SRS resource.
[0227] In some examples, the first beam sweeping state is configured on a per-SRS resource basis, and the SRS resource manager 945 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for receiving an indication of a joint or uplink TCI state associated with an SRS resource. In some examples, the first beam sweeping state is configured on a per-SRS resource basis, and the SRS resource manager 945 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for applying a spatial domain filter to the SRS resource in accordance with a source reference signal in the joint or uplink TCI state.
[0228] In some examples, the second beam sweeping state is configured on a per-SRS resource basis, and the SRS resource manager 945 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for receiving an indication of a joint or uplink TCI state associated with an SRS resource. In some examples, the second beam sweeping state is configured on a per-SRS resource basis, and the SRS resource manager 945 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for applying different spatial domain filters to the SRS resource during different symbols in accordance with a source reference signal in the joint or uplink TCI state, where application of the different spatial domain filters during the different symbols includes the set of multiple narrow beam widths.
[0229] In some examples, the second beam sweeping state is configured on a per-SRS resource basis, and the SRS resource manager 945 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for receiving an indication of a joint or uplink TCI state associated with an SRS resource. In some examples, the second beam sweeping state is configured on a per-SRS resource basis, and the SRS resource manager 945 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for applying a unique spatial domain filter to the SRS resource during different symbols that is different from a spatial domain filter associated with a source reference signal in the joint or uplink TCI state, where application of the unique spatial domain filter during different symbols includes a narrow beam width.
[0230] In some examples, the first beam sweeping state is configured on a per-joint or uplink TCI state basis, and the Joint or uplink TCI state manager 950 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for receiving an indication of a joint or uplink TCI state associated with an SRS resource set. In some examples, the first beam sweeping state is configured on a per-joint or uplink TCI state basis, and the Joint or uplink TCI state manager 950 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for applying a spatial domain filter to SRS resources in the SRS resource set in accordance with a source reference signal in the joint or uplink TCI state.
[0231] In some examples, the second beam sweeping state is configured on a per-joint or uplink TCI state basis, and the Joint or uplink TCI state manager 950 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for receiving an indication of a joint or uplink TCI state associated with an SRS resource set. In some examples, the second beam sweeping state is configured on a per-joint or uplink TCI state basis, and the Joint or uplink TCI state manager 950 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for applying multiple spatial domain filters to SRS resources in the SRS resource set that is different from a spatial domain filter associated with a source reference signal in the joint or uplink TCI state, where application of the multiple spatial domain filters to the SRS resources includes the set of multiple narrow beam widths.
[0232] In some examples, the beam sweeping status is configured on a per-joint or uplink TCI state basis, and the Joint or uplink TCI state manager 950 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for receiving an indication of a joint or uplink TCI state associated with a SRS resource. In some examples, the beam sweeping status is configured on a per-joint or uplink TCI state basis, and the Joint or uplink TCI state manager 950 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for applying a beam sweeping status to SRS resources within an SRS resource set in accordance with the beam sweeping status in the joint or uplink TCI state associated with a specific SRS resource, where the specific SRS resource includes a lowest resource identifier within the SRS resource set.
[0233] In some examples, the indication of the beam sweeping status is received in a MAC-CE. In some examples, the beam sweeping status is on a per-SRS resource set basis and a bit in the MAC-CE indicates either the first beam sweeping state or the second beam sweeping state for SRS resources in the SRS resource set. In some examples, the beam sweeping status is on a per-SRS resource basis and a set of bits in the MAC-CE corresponding to SRS resources in the SRS resource set indicates, for each SRS resource, either the first beam sweeping state or the second beam sweeping state.
[0234] In some examples, the indication of the beam sweeping status is received in a DCI and a bit in the DCI indicates either the first beam sweeping state or the second beam sweeping state for one or more SRS resource sets. In some examples, the SRS transmissions include aperiodic SRS transmissions associated with one or more trigger states where each trigger state is associated with a beam sweeping status that are configured for the UE via RRC signaling.
[0235] In some examples, the DCI manager 975 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for receiving a DCI that activates the aperiodic SRS transmissions associated with a trigger state, where the beam sweeping status associated with the trigger state is applied for the aperiodic SRS transmissions. In some examples, to support receiving the one or more signals, the SRS resource set manager 940 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for receiving an indication of a joint or uplink TCI state for an SRS resource set. In some examples, the UE being configured with the joint or uplink TCI state for the SRS resource set indicates the second beam sweeping state. In some examples, the joint or uplink TCI state for the SRS resource set omits a corresponding joint or uplink TCI state for SRS resources in the SRS resource set. In some examples, the indication of the joint or uplink TCI state for the SRS resource set is received in RRC signaling or in a MAC-CE. In some examples, a set of power control parameters for SRS resources in the SRS resource set are determined in accordance with the joint or uplink TCI state for the SRS resource set.
[0236] In some examples, to support receiving the one or more signals, the Joint or uplink TCI state manager 950 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for receiving an indication of a joint or uplink TCI state and a beam sweeping status for an SRS resource set. In some examples, the beam sweeping status includes the first beam sweeping state, and the Joint or uplink TCI state manager 950 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for applying, for each SRS resource in the SRS resource set, a spatial domain filter in accordance with the joint or uplink TCI state of the SRS resource set. In some examples, the beam sweeping status includes the second beam sweeping state, and the Joint or uplink TCI state manager 950 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for applying spatial domain filters to SRS resources in the SRS resource set that are different from a spatial domain filter associated with the joint or uplink TCI state of the SRS resource set, where application of the spatial domain filters include the set of multiple narrow beam widths.
[0237] In some examples, the set of multiple narrow beam widths that are within the range of the wide beamwidth of the transmit beam are in accordance with, for each narrow beam, a threshold power level associated with the wide beamwidth. In some examples, the set of multiple narrow beam widths that are within the range of the wide beamwidth of the transmit beam are in accordance with, for each narrow beam, a threshold beam direction associated with the wide beamwidth. In some examples, the UE capability manager 955 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for transmitting UE capability signaling indicating support for hierarchical beam management, where the one or more signals indicating the beam sweeping status are in accordance with the UE capability signaling. In some examples, the UE capability signaling further indicates a quantity of transmit beams or SRS resources that are supported for U1 beam sweeping, for U3 beam sweeping, or both.
[0238] Additionally, or alternatively, the communications manager 920 may support wireless communications in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. The beam sweeping range manager 935 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for receiving one or more signals including an indication of a beam sweeping range to be applied during SRS transmissions to an uplink receive point, where the beam sweeping range is defined in accordance with a downlink receive beam corresponding to a downlink reference signal of a downlink transmit point and an angular offset relative to the downlink receive beam. In some examples, the SRS manager 930 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for performing the SRS transmissions to the uplink receive point in beam sweeping transmissions according to the beam sweeping range. In some examples, the angular offset includes a horizontal angular offset, a vertical angular offset, or both.
[0239] In some examples, to support receiving the one or more signals, the downlink receive beam manager 960 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for receiving a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, where each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources is associated with a joint or uplink TCI state that identifies a source reference signal and the downlink receive beam is identified in accordance with the source reference signal.
[0240] In some examples, to support receiving the one or more signals, the downlink receive beam manager 960 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for receiving a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, where each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources is associated with a joint or uplink TCI state that identifies a pathloss reference signal and the downlink receive beam is identified in accordance with the pathloss reference signal. In some examples, to support receiving the one or more signals, the downlink receive beam manager 960 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for receiving a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, where each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources is associated with a joint or uplink TCI state where a specific joint or uplink TCI state is used to identify the downlink reference signal for SRS resources in the set of SRS resources and the downlink receive beam is identified in accordance with the downlink reference signal.
[0241] In some examples, the downlink reference signal includes either a source reference signal or a pathloss reference signal in the specific joint or uplink TCI state that is associated with a lowest resource identifier. In some examples, the downlink receive beam corresponding to the downlink reference signal is configured or indicated on a per-SRS resource basis or on a per-SRS resource set basis. In some examples, the downlink receive beam corresponding to the downlink reference signal is identified as a source reference signal in a current indicated joint or downlink TCI state associated with the downlink transmit point.
[0242] In some examples, to support receiving the one or more signals, the angular offset manager 965 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for receiving a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, where each SRS resources in the set of SRS resources are associated with a joint or uplink TCI state that identifies the angular offset. In some examples, to support receiving the one or more signals, the angular offset manager 965 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for receiving a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, where each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources is associated with the angular offset.
[0243] In some examples, to support receiving the one or more signals, the angular offset manager 965 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for receiving a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, where the set of SRS resources is associated with a common angular offset and a set of delta values that, for each corresponding SRS resource in the set of SRS resources, identify the angular offset for the corresponding SRS resource. In some examples, each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources is indicated with a corresponding delta value from the set of delta values. In some examples, each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources is indicated with a same delta value from the set of delta values and a corresponding delta value for the corresponding SRS resource is identified in accordance with an order or index of the corresponding SRS resource in the set of SRS resources.
[0244] In some examples, the update manager 970 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for receiving a MAC-CE that indicates an update to the downlink reference signal, to the angular offset, or both. In some examples, the update to the downlink reference signal, to the angular offset, or both, is associated with one or more joint or uplink TCI states. In some examples, the update to the downlink reference signal, to the angular offset, or both, is associated with one or more SRS resources. In some examples, the update to the downlink reference signal, to the angular offset, or both, is associated with one or more SRS resource sets.
[0245] FIG. 10 shows a diagram of a system 1000 including a device 1005 that supports SRS enhancement for uplink beam management in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. The device 1005 may be an example of or include components of a device 705, a device 805, or a UE 115 as described herein. The device 1005 may communicate (e.g., wirelessly) with one or more other devices (e.g., network entities 105, UEs 115, or a combination thereof) . The device 1005 may include components for bi-directional voice and data communications including components for transmitting and receiving communications, such as a communications manager 1020, an input / output (I / O) controller, such as an I / O controller 1010, a transceiver 1015, one or more antennas 1025, at least one memory 1030, code 1035, and at least one processor 1040. 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 1045) .
[0246] The I / O controller 1010 may manage input and output signals for the device 1005. The I / O controller 1010 may also manage peripherals not integrated into the device 1005. In some cases, the I / O controller 1010 may represent a physical connection or port to an external peripheral. In some cases, the I / O controller 1010 may utilize an operating system such as or another known operating system. Additionally, or alternatively, the I / O controller 1010 may represent or interact with a modem, a keyboard, a mouse, a touchscreen, or a similar device. In some cases, the I / O controller 1010 may be implemented as part of one or more processors, such as the at least one processor 1040. In some cases, a user may interact with the device 1005 via the I / O controller 1010 or via hardware components controlled by the I / O controller 1010.
[0247] In some cases, the device 1005 may include a single antenna. However, in some other cases, the device 1005 may have more than one antenna, which may be capable of concurrently transmitting or receiving multiple wireless transmissions. The transceiver 1015 may communicate bi-directionally via the one or more antennas 1025 using wired or wireless links as described herein. For example, the transceiver 1015 may represent a wireless transceiver and may communicate bi-directionally with another wireless transceiver. The transceiver 1015 may also include a modem to modulate the packets, to provide the modulated packets to one or more antennas 1025 for transmission, and to demodulate packets received from the one or more antennas 1025. The transceiver 1015, or the transceiver 1015 and one or more antennas 1025, may be an example of a transmitter 715, a transmitter 815, a receiver 710, a receiver 810, or any combination thereof or component thereof, as described herein.
[0248] The at least one memory 1030 may include random access memory (RAM) and read-only memory (ROM) . The at least one memory 1030 may store computer-readable, computer-executable, or processor-executable code, such as the code 1035. The code 1035 may include instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor 1040, cause the device 1005 to perform various functions described herein. The code 1035 may be stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium such as system memory or another type of memory. In some cases, the code 1035 may not be directly executable by the at least one processor 1040 but may cause a computer (e.g., when compiled and executed) to perform functions described herein. In some cases, the at least one memory 1030 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.
[0249] The at least one processor 1040 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 1040 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 1040. The at least one processor 1040 may be configured to execute computer-readable instructions stored in a memory (e.g., the at least one memory 1030) to cause the device 1005 to perform various functions (e.g., functions or tasks supporting SRS enhancement for uplink beam management) . For example, the device 1005 or a component of the device 1005 may include at least one processor 1040 and at least one memory 1030 coupled with or to the at least one processor 1040, the at least one processor 1040 and the at least one memory 1030 configured to perform various functions described herein.
[0250] In some examples, the at least one processor 1040 may include multiple processors and the at least one memory 1030 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 1040 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 1040) and memory circuitry (which may include the at least one memory 1030) ) , 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 1040 or a processing system including the at least one processor 1040 may be configured to, configurable to, or operable to cause the device 1005 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 1035 (e.g., processor-executable code) stored in the at least one memory 1030 or otherwise, to perform one or more of the functions described herein.
[0251] The communications manager 1020 may support wireless communications in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. For example, the communications manager 1020 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for receiving one or more signals including an indication of a transmit beam and a beam sweeping status to be applied during SRS transmissions, the beam sweeping status including either a first beam sweeping state where the SRS transmissions are performed using a wide beamwidth corresponding to the transmit beam or a second beam sweeping state where the SRS transmissions are performed using a set of multiple narrow beam widths, where the set of multiple narrow beam widths are within a range of the wide beamwidth of the transmit beam. The communications manager 1020 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for performing the SRS transmissions according to the beam sweeping status.
[0252] Additionally, or alternatively, the communications manager 1020 may support wireless communications in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. For example, the communications manager 1020 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for receiving one or more signals including an indication of a beam sweeping range to be applied during SRS transmissions to an uplink receive point, where the beam sweeping range is defined in accordance with a downlink receive beam corresponding to a downlink reference signal of a downlink transmit point and an angular offset relative to the downlink receive beam. The communications manager 1020 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for performing the SRS transmissions to the uplink receive point in beam sweeping transmissions according to the beam sweeping range.
[0253] By including or configuring the communications manager 1020 in accordance with examples as described herein, the device 1005 may support techniques for SRS-based uplink beam management when the usage of the SRS resources are set to beam management. This may include the U1-U3 beam refinement procedure being supported based on beam sweeping status signaling. This may include the SRS beam sweeping being based on a beams sweeping range indicated to the UE.
[0254] In some examples, the communications manager 1020 may be configured to perform various operations (e.g., receiving, monitoring, transmitting) using or otherwise in cooperation with the transceiver 1015, the one or more antennas 1025, or any combination thereof. Although the communications manager 1020 is illustrated as a separate component, in some examples, one or more functions described with reference to the communications manager 1020 may be supported by or performed by the at least one processor 1040, the at least one memory 1030, the code 1035, or any combination thereof. For example, the code 1035 may include instructions executable by the at least one processor 1040 to cause the device 1005 to perform various aspects of SRS enhancement for uplink beam management as described herein, or the at least one processor 1040 and the at least one memory 1030 may be otherwise configured to, individually or collectively, perform or support such operations.
[0255] FIG. 11 shows a block diagram 1100 of a device 1105 that supports SRS enhancement for uplink beam management in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. The device 1105 may be an example of aspects of a network entity 105 as described herein. The device 1105 may include a receiver 1110, a transmitter 1115, and a communications manager 1120. The device 1105, or one or more components of the device 1105 (e.g., the receiver 1110, the transmitter 1115, the communications manager 1120) , 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) .
[0256] The receiver 1110 may provide a means for obtaining (e.g., receiving, determining, identifying) information such as user data, control information, or any combination thereof (e.g., I / Q samples, symbols, packets, protocol data units, service data units) associated with various channels (e.g., control channels, data channels, information channels, channels associated with a protocol stack) . Information may be passed on to other components of the device 1105. In some examples, the receiver 1110 may support obtaining information by receiving signals via one or more antennas. Additionally, or alternatively, the receiver 1110 may support obtaining information by receiving signals via one or more wired (e.g., electrical, fiber optic) interfaces, wireless interfaces, or any combination thereof.
[0257] The transmitter 1115 may provide a means for outputting (e.g., transmitting, providing, conveying, sending) information generated by other components of the device 1105. For example, the transmitter 1115 may output information such as user data, control information, or any combination thereof (e.g., I / Q samples, symbols, packets, protocol data units, service data units) associated with various channels (e.g., control channels, data channels, information channels, channels associated with a protocol stack) . In some examples, the transmitter 1115 may support outputting information by transmitting signals via one or more antennas. Additionally, or alternatively, the transmitter 1115 may support outputting information by transmitting signals via one or more wired (e.g., electrical, fiber optic) interfaces, wireless interfaces, or any combination thereof. In some examples, the transmitter 1115 and the receiver 1110 may be co-located in a transceiver, which may include or be coupled with a modem.
[0258] The communications manager 1120, the receiver 1110, the transmitter 1115, or various combinations or components thereof may be examples of means for performing various aspects of SRS enhancement for uplink beam management as described herein. For example, the communications manager 1120, the receiver 1110, the transmitter 1115, or various combinations or components thereof may be capable of performing one or more of the functions described herein.
[0259] In some examples, the communications manager 1120, the receiver 1110, the transmitter 1115, 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 DSP, a CPU, an ASIC, an 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) .
[0260] Additionally, or alternatively, the communications manager 1120, the receiver 1110, the transmitter 1115, 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 1120, the receiver 1110, the transmitter 1115, 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) .
[0261] In some examples, the communications manager 1120 may be configured to perform various operations (e.g., receiving, obtaining, monitoring, outputting, transmitting) using or otherwise in cooperation with the receiver 1110, the transmitter 1115, or both. For example, the communications manager 1120 may receive information from the receiver 1110, send information to the transmitter 1115, or be integrated in combination with the receiver 1110, the transmitter 1115, or both to obtain information, output information, or perform various other operations as described herein.
[0262] The communications manager 1120 may support wireless communications in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. For example, the communications manager 1120 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for outputting, to a UE, one or more signals including an indication of a transmit beam and a beam sweeping status to be applied during SRS transmissions, the beam sweeping status including either a first beam sweeping state where the SRS transmissions are performed using a wide beamwidth corresponding to the transmit beam or a second beam sweeping state where the SRS transmissions are performed using a set of multiple narrow beam widths, where the set of multiple narrow beam widths are within a range of the wide beamwidth of the transmit beam. The communications manager 1120 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for obtaining the SRS transmissions according to the beam sweeping status.
[0263] Additionally, or alternatively, the communications manager 1120 may support wireless communications in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. For example, the communications manager 1120 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for outputting, to a UE and via a downlink transmit point, one or more signals including an indication of a beam sweeping range to be applied during SRS transmissions to an uplink receive point, where the beam sweeping range is defined in accordance with a downlink receive beam corresponding to a downlink reference signal of a downlink transmit point and an angular offset relative to the downlink receive beam. The communications manager 1120 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for obtaining the SRS transmissions at the uplink receive point in beam sweeping transmissions according to the beam sweeping range.
[0264] By including or configuring the communications manager 1120 in accordance with examples as described herein, the device 1105 (e.g., at least one processor controlling or otherwise coupled with the receiver 1110, the transmitter 1115, the communications manager 1120, or a combination thereof) may support techniques for SRS-based uplink beam management when the usage of the SRS resources are set to beam management. This may include the U1-U3 beam refinement procedure being supported based on beam sweeping status signaling. This may include the SRS beam sweeping being based on a beams sweeping range indicated to the UE.
[0265] FIG. 12 shows a block diagram 1200 of a device 1205 that supports SRS enhancement for uplink beam management in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. The device 1205 may be an example of aspects of a device 1105 or a network entity 105 as described herein. The device 1205 may include a receiver 1210, a transmitter 1215, and a communications manager 1220. The device 1205, or one of more components of the device 1205 (e.g., the receiver 1210, the transmitter 1215, the communications manager 1220) , 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) .
[0266] The receiver 1210 may provide a means for obtaining (e.g., receiving, determining, identifying) information such as user data, control information, or any combination thereof (e.g., I / Q samples, symbols, packets, protocol data units, service data units) associated with various channels (e.g., control channels, data channels, information channels, channels associated with a protocol stack) . Information may be passed on to other components of the device 1205. In some examples, the receiver 1210 may support obtaining information by receiving signals via one or more antennas. Additionally, or alternatively, the receiver 1210 may support obtaining information by receiving signals via one or more wired (e.g., electrical, fiber optic) interfaces, wireless interfaces, or any combination thereof.
[0267] The transmitter 1215 may provide a means for outputting (e.g., transmitting, providing, conveying, sending) information generated by other components of the device 1205. For example, the transmitter 1215 may output information such as user data, control information, or any combination thereof (e.g., I / Q samples, symbols, packets, protocol data units, service data units) associated with various channels (e.g., control channels, data channels, information channels, channels associated with a protocol stack) . In some examples, the transmitter 1215 may support outputting information by transmitting signals via one or more antennas. Additionally, or alternatively, the transmitter 1215 may support outputting information by transmitting signals via one or more wired (e.g., electrical, fiber optic) interfaces, wireless interfaces, or any combination thereof. In some examples, the transmitter 1215 and the receiver 1210 may be co-located in a transceiver, which may include or be coupled with a modem.
[0268] The device 1205, or various components thereof, may be an example of means for performing various aspects of SRS enhancement for uplink beam management as described herein. For example, the communications manager 1220 may include a beam sweeping manager 1225, an SRS manager 1230, a beam sweeping range manager 1235, or any combination thereof. The communications manager 1220 may be an example of aspects of a communications manager 1120 as described herein. In some examples, the communications manager 1220, 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 1210, the transmitter 1215, or both. For example, the communications manager 1220 may receive information from the receiver 1210, send information to the transmitter 1215, or be integrated in combination with the receiver 1210, the transmitter 1215, or both to obtain information, output information, or perform various other operations as described herein.
[0269] The communications manager 1220 may support wireless communications in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. The beam sweeping manager 1225 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for outputting, to a UE, one or more signals including an indication of a transmit beam and a beam sweeping status to be applied during SRS transmissions, the beam sweeping status including either a first beam sweeping state where the SRS transmissions are performed using a wide beamwidth corresponding to the transmit beam or a second beam sweeping state where the SRS transmissions are performed using a set of multiple narrow beam widths, where the set of multiple narrow beam widths are within a range of the wide beamwidth of the transmit beam. The SRS manager 1230 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for obtaining the SRS transmissions according to the beam sweeping status.
[0270] Additionally, or alternatively, the communications manager 1220 may support wireless communications in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. The beam sweeping range manager 1235 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for outputting, to a UE and via a downlink transmit point, one or more signals including an indication of a beam sweeping range to be applied during SRS transmissions to an uplink receive point, where the beam sweeping range is defined in accordance with a downlink receive beam corresponding to a downlink reference signal of a downlink transmit point and an angular offset relative to the downlink receive beam. The SRS manager 1230 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for obtaining the SRS transmissions at the uplink receive point in beam sweeping transmissions according to the beam sweeping range.
[0271] FIG. 13 shows a block diagram 1300 of a communications manager 1320 that supports SRS enhancement for uplink beam management in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. The communications manager 1320 may be an example of aspects of a communications manager 1120, a communications manager 1220, or both, as described herein. The communications manager 1320, or various components thereof, may be an example of means for performing various aspects of SRS enhancement for uplink beam management as described herein. For example, the communications manager 1320 may include a beam sweeping manager 1325, an SRS manager 1330, a beam sweeping range manager 1335, an SRS resource set manager 1340, an SRS resource manager 1345, a joint or uplink TCI state manager 1350, a UE capability manager 1355, a downlink receive beam manager 1360, an angular offset manager 1365, an update manager 1370, a DCI manager 1375, 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) . The communications may include communications within a protocol layer of a protocol stack, communications associated with a logical channel of a protocol stack (e.g., between protocol layers of a protocol stack, within a device, component, or virtualized component associated with a network entity 105, between devices, components, or virtualized components associated with a network entity 105) , or any combination thereof.
[0272] The communications manager 1320 may support wireless communications in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. The beam sweeping manager 1325 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for outputting, to a UE, one or more signals including an indication of a transmit beam and a beam sweeping status to be applied during SRS transmissions, the beam sweeping status including either a first beam sweeping state where the SRS transmissions are performed using a wide beamwidth corresponding to the transmit beam or a second beam sweeping state where the SRS transmissions are performed using a set of multiple narrow beam widths, where the set of multiple narrow beam widths are within a range of the wide beamwidth of the transmit beam. The SRS manager 1330 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for obtaining the SRS transmissions according to the beam sweeping status. In some examples, the beam sweeping status is configured on at least one of a per-SRS resource basis, a per-SRS resource set basis, or a per-joint or uplink TCI state basis.
[0273] In some examples, the first beam sweeping state is configured on a per-SRS resource set basis, and the SRS resource set manager 1340 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for outputting an indication of a joint or uplink TCI state associated with each SRS resource in an SRS resource set, where the UE applies, for each SRS resource in the SRS resource set, a spatial domain filter to SRS resources in accordance with the joint or uplink TCI state associated with the SRS resource, where the spatial domain filter is associated with a source reference signal in the joint or uplink TCI state.
[0274] In some examples, the second beam sweeping state is configured on a per-SRS resource set basis, and the SRS resource set manager 1340 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for outputting, for each SRS resource in a SRS resource set, an indication of a joint or uplink TCI state associated with the SRS resource, where the UE applies a first spatial domain filter to each SRS resource in the SRS resource set in accordance with the joint or uplink TCI state of the SRS resource, where the first spatial domain filter is different from a second spatial domain filter associated with a source reference signal in the joint or uplink TCI state of the SRS resource.
[0275] In some examples, the first beam sweeping state is configured on a per-SRS resource basis, and the SRS resource manager 1345 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for outputting an indication of a joint or uplink TCI state associated with an SRS resource, where the UE applies a spatial domain filter to the SRS resource in accordance with a source reference signal in the joint or uplink TCI state. In some examples, the second beam sweeping state is configured on a per-SRS resource basis, and the SRS resource manager 1345 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for outputting an indication of a joint or uplink TCI state associated with an SRS resource, where the UE applies different spatial domain filters to the SRS resource during different symbols in accordance with a source reference signal in the joint or uplink TCI state, where application of the different spatial domain filters during the different symbols includes the set of multiple narrow beam widths.
[0276] In some examples, the second beam sweeping state is configured on a per-SRS resource basis, and the SRS resource manager 1345 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for outputting an indication of a joint or uplink TCI state associated with an SRS resource, where the UE applies a unique spatial domain filter to the SRS resource during different symbols that is different from a spatial domain filter associated with a source reference signal in the joint or uplink TCI state, where application of the unique spatial domain filter during different symbols includes the set of multiple narrow beam widths.
[0277] In some examples, the first beam sweeping state is configured on a per-joint or uplink TCI state basis, and the joint or uplink TCI state manager 1350 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for outputting an indication of a joint or uplink TCI state associated with an SRS resource set, where the UE applies a spatial domain filter to SRS resources in the SRS resource set in accordance with a source reference signal in the joint or uplink TCI state.
[0278] In some examples, the second beam sweeping state is configured on a per-joint or uplink TCI state basis, and the joint or uplink TCI state manager 1350 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for outputting an indication of a joint or uplink TCI state associated with a SRS resource set, where the UE applies multiple spatial domain filters to SRS resources in the SRS resource set that is different from a spatial domain filter associated with a source reference signal in the joint or uplink TCI state, where application of the multiple spatial domain filters to the SRS resources includes the set of multiple narrow beam widths.
[0279] In some examples, the beam sweeping status is configured on a per-joint or uplink TCI state basis, and the joint or uplink TCI state manager 1350 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for outputting an indication of a joint or uplink TCI state associated with a SRS resource, where the UE applies a beam sweeping status to the SRS resources within an SRS resource set in accordance with the beam sweeping status in the joint or uplink TCI state associated with a specific SRS resource, where the specific SRS resource includes a lowest resource identifier within the SRS resource set.
[0280] In some examples, the indication of the beam sweeping status is output in a MAC-CE. In some examples, the beam sweeping status is on a per-SRS resource set basis and a bit in the MAC-CE indicates either the first beam sweeping state or the second beam sweeping state for SRS resources in the SRS resource set. In some examples, the beam sweeping status is on a per-SRS resource basis and a set of bits in the MAC-CE corresponding to SRS resources in the SRS resource set indicates, for each SRS resource, either the first beam sweeping state or the second beam sweeping state. In some examples, the indication of the beam sweeping status is output in a DCI and a bit in the DCI indicates either the first beam sweeping state or the second beam sweeping state for one or more SRS resource sets. In some examples, the SRS transmissions include aperiodic SRS transmissions associated with one or more trigger states where each trigger state is associated with a beam sweeping status that are configured for the UE via RRC signaling.
[0281] In some examples, the DCI manager 1375 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for outputting a DCI that activates the aperiodic SRS transmissions associated with a trigger state, where the beam sweeping status associated with the trigger state is applied for the aperiodic SRS transmissions.
[0282] In some examples, to support outputting the one or more signals, the joint or uplink TCI state manager 1350 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for outputting an indication of a joint or uplink TCI state for an SRS resource set. In some examples, the UE being configured with the joint or uplink TCI state for the SRS resource set indicates the second beam sweeping state. In some examples, the joint or uplink TCI state for the SRS resource set omits a corresponding joint or uplink TCI state for SRS resources in the SRS resource set. In some examples, the indication of the joint or uplink TCI state for the SRS resource set is output in RRC signaling or in a MAC-CE. In some examples, a set of power control parameters for SRS resources in the SRS resource set are determined in accordance with the joint or uplink TCI state for the SRS resource set.
[0283] In some examples, to support outputting the one or more signals, the joint or uplink TCI state manager 1350 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for outputting an indication of a joint or uplink TCI state and a beam sweeping status for an SRS resource set. In some examples, the beam sweeping status includes the first beam sweeping state and the UE applies, for each SRS resource in the SRS resource set, a spatial domain filter in accordance with the joint or uplink TCI state of the SRS resource set. In some examples, the beam sweeping status includes the second beam sweeping state and the UE applies spatial domain filters to SRS resources in the SRS resource set that are different from a spatial domain filter associated with the joint or uplink TCI state of the SRS resource set. In some examples, application of the spatial domain filters include the set of multiple narrow beam widths.
[0284] In some examples, the set of multiple narrow beam widths that are within the range of the wide beamwidth of the transmit beam are in accordance with, for each narrow beam, a threshold power level associated with the wide beamwidth. In some examples, the set of multiple narrow beam widths that are within the range of the wide beamwidth of the transmit beam are in accordance with, for each narrow beam, a threshold beam direction associated with the wide beamwidth.
[0285] In some examples, the UE capability manager 1355 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for obtaining UE capability signaling indicating support for hierarchical beam management, where the one or more signals indicating the beam sweeping status are in accordance with the UE capability signaling. In some examples, the UE capability signaling further indicates a quantity of transmit beams or SRS resources that are supported for U1 beam sweeping, U3 beam sweeping, or both.
[0286] Additionally, or alternatively, the communications manager 1320 may support wireless communications in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. The beam sweeping range manager 1335 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for outputting, to a UE and via a downlink transmit point, one or more signals including an indication of a beam sweeping range to be applied during SRS transmissions to an uplink receive point, where the beam sweeping range is defined in accordance with a downlink receive beam corresponding to a downlink reference signal of a downlink transmit point and an angular offset relative to the downlink receive beam. In some examples, the SRS manager 1330 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for obtaining the SRS transmissions at the uplink receive point in beam sweeping transmissions according to the beam sweeping range. In some examples, the angular offset includes a horizontal angular offset, a vertical angular offset, or both.
[0287] In some examples, to support outputting the one or more signals, the downlink receive beam manager 1360 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for outputting a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, where each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources is associated with a joint or uplink TCI state that identifies a source reference signal and the downlink receive beam is identified in accordance with the source reference signal.
[0288] In some examples, to support outputting the one or more signals, the downlink receive beam manager 1360 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for outputting a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, where each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources is associated with a joint or uplink TCI state that identifies a pathloss reference signal and the downlink receive beam is identified in accordance with the pathloss reference signal.
[0289] In some examples, to support outputting the one or more signals, the downlink receive beam manager 1360 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for outputting a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, where each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources is associated with a joint or uplink TCI state where a specific joint or uplink TCI state is used to identify the downlink reference signal for SRS resources in the set of SRS resources and the downlink receive beam is identified in accordance with the downlink reference signal. In some examples, the downlink reference signal includes either a source reference signal or a pathloss reference signal in the specific joint or uplink TCI state that is associated with a lowest resource identifier. In some examples, the downlink receive beam corresponding to the downlink reference signal is configured or indicated on a per-SRS resource basis or on a per-SRS resource set basis. In some examples, the downlink receive beam corresponding to the downlink reference signal is identified as a source reference signal in a current indicated joint or downlink TCI state associated with the downlink transmit point.
[0290] In some examples, to support outputting the one or more signals, the angular offset manager 1365 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for outputting a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, where each SRS resources in the set of SRS resources are associated with a joint or uplink TCI state that identifies the angular offset. In some examples, to support outputting the one or more signals, the angular offset manager 1365 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for outputting a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, where each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources is associated with the angular offset.
[0291] In some examples, to support outputting the one or more signals, the angular offset manager 1365 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for outputting a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, where the set of SRS resources is associated with a common angular offset and a set of delta values that, for each corresponding SRS resource in the set of SRS resources, identify the angular offset for the corresponding SRS resource. In some examples, each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources is indicated with a corresponding delta value from the set of delta values. In some examples, each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources is indicated with a same delta value from the set of delta values and a corresponding delta value for the corresponding SRS resource is identified in accordance with an order or index of the corresponding SRS resource in the set of SRS resources.
[0292] In some examples, the update manager 1370 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for outputting a MAC-CE that indicates an update to the downlink reference signal, to the angular offset, or both. In some examples, the update to the downlink reference signal, to the angular offset, or both, is associated with one or more joint or uplink TCI states. In some examples, the update to the downlink reference signal, to the angular offset, or both, is associated with one or more SRS resources. In some examples, the update to the downlink reference signal, to the angular offset, or both, is associated with one or more SRS resource sets.
[0293] FIG. 14 shows a diagram of a system 1400 including a device 1405 that supports SRS enhancement for uplink beam management in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. The device 1405 may be an example of or include components of a device 1105, a device 1205, or a network entity 105 as described herein. The device 1405 may communicate with other network devices or network equipment such as one or more of the network entities 105, UEs 115, or any combination thereof. The communications may include communications over one or more wired interfaces, over one or more wireless interfaces, or any combination thereof. The device 1405 may include components that support outputting and obtaining communications, such as a communications manager 1420, a transceiver 1410, one or more antennas 1415, at least one memory 1425, code 1430, and at least one processor 1435. 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 1440) .
[0294] The transceiver 1410 may support bi-directional communications via wired links, wireless links, or both as described herein. In some examples, the transceiver 1410 may include a wired transceiver and may communicate bi-directionally with another wired transceiver. Additionally, or alternatively, in some examples, the transceiver 1410 may include a wireless transceiver and may communicate bi-directionally with another wireless transceiver. In some examples, the device 1405 may include one or more antennas 1415, which may be capable of transmitting or receiving wireless transmissions (e.g., concurrently) . The transceiver 1410 may also include a modem to modulate signals, to provide the modulated signals for transmission (e.g., by one or more antennas 1415, by a wired transmitter) , to receive modulated signals (e.g., from one or more antennas 1415, from a wired receiver) , and to demodulate signals. In some implementations, the transceiver 1410 may include one or more interfaces, such as one or more interfaces coupled with the one or more antennas 1415 that are configured to support various receiving or obtaining operations, or one or more interfaces coupled with the one or more antennas 1415 that are configured to support various transmitting or outputting operations, or a combination thereof. In some implementations, the transceiver 1410 may include or be configured for coupling with one or more processors or one or more memory components that are operable to perform or support operations based on received or obtained information or signals, or to generate information or other signals for transmission or other outputting, or any combination thereof. In some implementations, the transceiver 1410, or the transceiver 1410 and the one or more antennas 1415, or the transceiver 1410 and the one or more antennas 1415 and one or more processors or one or more memory components (e.g., the at least one processor 1435, the at least one memory 1425, or both) , may be included in a chip or chip assembly that is installed in the device 1405. In some examples, the transceiver 1410 may be operable to support communications via one or more communications links (e.g., communication link (s) 125, backhaul communication link (s) 120, a midhaul communication link 162, a fronthaul communication link 168) .
[0295] The at least one memory 1425 may include RAM, ROM, or any combination thereof. The at least one memory 1425 may store computer-readable, computer-executable, or processor-executable code, such as the code 1430. The code 1430 may include instructions that, when executed by one or more of the at least one processor 1435, cause the device 1405 to perform various functions described herein. The code 1430 may be stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium such as system memory or another type of memory. In some cases, the code 1430 may not be directly executable by a processor of the at least one processor 1435 but may cause a computer (e.g., when compiled and executed) to perform functions described herein. In some cases, the at least one memory 1425 may include, among other things, a BIOS which may control basic hardware or software operation such as the interaction with peripheral components or devices. In some examples, the at least one processor 1435 may include multiple processors and the at least one memory 1425 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 herein (for example, as part of a processing system) .
[0296] The at least one processor 1435 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 1435 may be configured to operate a memory array using a memory controller. In some other cases, a memory controller may be integrated into one or more of the at least one processor 1435. The at least one processor 1435 may be configured to execute computer-readable instructions stored in a memory (e.g., one or more of the at least one memory 1425) to cause the device 1405 to perform various functions (e.g., functions or tasks supporting SRS enhancement for uplink beam management) . For example, the device 1405 or a component of the device 1405 may include at least one processor 1435 and at least one memory 1425 coupled with one or more of the at least one processor 1435, the at least one processor 1435 and the at least one memory 1425 configured to perform various functions described herein. The at least one processor 1435 may be an example of a cloud-computing platform (e.g., one or more physical nodes and supporting software such as operating systems, virtual machines, or container instances) that may host the functions (e.g., by executing code 1430) to perform the functions of the device 1405. The at least one processor 1435 may be any one or more suitable processors capable of executing scripts or instructions of one or more software programs stored in the device 1405 (such as within one or more of the at least one memory 1425) .
[0297] In some examples, the at least one processor 1435 may include multiple processors and the at least one memory 1425 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 herein. In some examples, the at least one processor 1435 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 1435) and memory circuitry (which may include the at least one memory 1425) ) , 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 1435 or a processing system including the at least one processor 1435 may be configured to, configurable to, or operable to cause the device 1405 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 stored in the at least one memory 1425 or otherwise, to perform one or more of the functions described herein.
[0298] In some examples, a bus 1440 may support communications of (e.g., within) a protocol layer of a protocol stack. In some examples, a bus 1440 may support communications associated with a logical channel of a protocol stack (e.g., between protocol layers of a protocol stack) , which may include communications performed within a component of the device 1405, or between different components of the device 1405 that may be co-located or located in different locations (e.g., where the device 1405 may refer to a system in which one or more of the communications manager 1420, the transceiver 1410, the at least one memory 1425, the code 1430, and the at least one processor 1435 may be located in one of the different components or divided between different components) .
[0299] In some examples, the communications manager 1420 may manage aspects of communications with a core network 130 (e.g., via one or more wired or wireless backhaul links) . For example, the communications manager 1420 may manage the transfer of data communications for client devices, such as one or more UEs 115. In some examples, the communications manager 1420 may manage communications with one or more other network entities 105, and may include a controller or scheduler for controlling communications with UEs 115 (e.g., in cooperation with the one or more other network devices) . In some examples, the communications manager 1420 may support an X2 interface within an LTE / LTE-A wireless communications network technology to provide communication between network entities 105.
[0300] The communications manager 1420 may support wireless communications in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. For example, the communications manager 1420 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for outputting, to a UE, one or more signals including an indication of a transmit beam and a beam sweeping status to be applied during SRS transmissions, the beam sweeping status including either a first beam sweeping state where the SRS transmissions are performed using a wide beamwidth corresponding to the transmit beam or a second beam sweeping state where the SRS transmissions are performed using a set of multiple narrow beam widths, where the set of multiple narrow beam widths are within a range of the wide beamwidth of the transmit beam. The communications manager 1420 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for obtaining the SRS transmissions according to the beam sweeping status.
[0301] Additionally, or alternatively, the communications manager 1420 may support wireless communications in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. For example, the communications manager 1420 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for outputting, to a UE and via a downlink transmit point, one or more signals including an indication of a beam sweeping range to be applied during SRS transmissions to an uplink receive point, where the beam sweeping range is defined in accordance with a downlink receive beam corresponding to a downlink reference signal of a downlink transmit point and an angular offset relative to the downlink receive beam. The communications manager 1420 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for obtaining the SRS transmissions at the uplink receive point in beam sweeping transmissions according to the beam sweeping range.
[0302] By including or configuring the communications manager 1420 in accordance with examples as described herein, the device 1405 may support techniques SRS-based uplink beam management when the usage of the SRS resources are set to beam management. This may include the U1-U3 beam refinement procedure being supported based on beam sweeping status signaling. This may include the SRS beam sweeping being based on a beams sweeping range indicated to the UE.
[0303] In some examples, the communications manager 1420 may be configured to perform various operations (e.g., receiving, obtaining, monitoring, outputting, transmitting) using or otherwise in cooperation with the transceiver 1410, the one or more antennas 1415 (e.g., where applicable) , or any combination thereof. Although the communications manager 1420 is illustrated as a separate component, in some examples, one or more functions described with reference to the communications manager 1420 may be supported by or performed by the transceiver 1410, one or more of the at least one processor 1435, one or more of the at least one memory 1425, the code 1430, or any combination thereof (for example, by a processing system including at least a portion of the at least one processor 1435, the at least one memory 1425, the code 1430, or any combination thereof) . For example, the code 1430 may include instructions executable by one or more of the at least one processor 1435 to cause the device 1405 to perform various aspects of SRS enhancement for uplink beam management as described herein, or the at least one processor 1435 and the at least one memory 1425 may be otherwise configured to, individually or collectively, perform or support such operations.
[0304] FIG. 15 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 1500 that supports SRS enhancement for uplink beam management in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. The operations of the method 1500 may be implemented by a UE or its components as described herein. For example, the operations of the method 1500 may be performed by a UE 115 as described with reference to FIGs. 1 through 10. 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.
[0305] At 1505, the method may include receiving one or more signals including an indication of a transmit beam and a beam sweeping status to be applied during SRS transmissions, the beam sweeping status including either a first beam sweeping state where the SRS transmissions are performed using a wide beamwidth corresponding to the transmit beam or a second beam sweeping state where the SRS transmissions are performed using a set of multiple narrow beam widths, where the set of multiple narrow beam widths are within a range of the wide beamwidth of the transmit beam. The operations of 1505 may be performed in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 1505 may be performed by a beam sweeping manager 925 as described with reference to FIG. 9.
[0306] At 1510, the method may include performing the SRS transmissions according to the beam sweeping status. The operations of 1510 may be performed in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 1510 may be performed by an SRS manager 930 as described with reference to FIG. 9.
[0307] FIG. 16 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 1600 that supports SRS enhancement for uplink beam management in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. The operations of the method 1600 may be implemented by a network entity or its components as described herein. For example, the operations of the method 1600 may be performed by a network entity as described with reference to FIGs. 1 through 6 and 11 through 14. In some examples, a network entity may execute a set of instructions to control the functional elements of the network entity to perform the described functions. Additionally, or alternatively, the network entity may perform aspects of the described functions using special-purpose hardware.
[0308] At 1605, the method may include outputting, to a UE, one or more signals including an indication of a transmit beam and a beam sweeping status to be applied during SRS transmissions, the beam sweeping status including either a first beam sweeping state where the SRS transmissions are performed using a wide beamwidth corresponding to the transmit beam or a second beam sweeping state where the SRS transmissions are performed using a set of multiple narrow beam widths, where the set of multiple narrow beam widths are within a range of the wide beamwidth of the transmit beam. The operations of 1605 may be performed in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 1605 may be performed by a beam sweeping manager 1325 as described with reference to FIG. 13.
[0309] At 1610, the method may include obtaining the SRS transmissions according to the beam sweeping status. The operations of 1610 may be performed in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 1610 may be performed by an SRS manager 1330 as described with reference to FIG. 13.
[0310] FIG. 17 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 1700 that supports SRS enhancement for uplink beam management in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. The operations of the method 1700 may be implemented by a UE or its components as described herein. For example, the operations of the method 1700 may be performed by a UE 115 as described with reference to FIGs. 1 through 10. 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.
[0311] At 1705, the method may include receiving one or more signals including an indication of a beam sweeping range to be applied during SRS transmissions to an uplink receive point, where the beam sweeping range is defined in accordance with a downlink receive beam corresponding to a downlink reference signal of a downlink transmit point and an angular offset relative to the downlink receive beam. The operations of 1705 may be performed in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 1705 may be performed by a beam sweeping range manager 935 as described with reference to FIG. 9.
[0312] At 1710, the method may include performing the SRS transmissions to the uplink receive point in beam sweeping transmissions according to the beam sweeping range. The operations of 1710 may be performed in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 1710 may be performed by an SRS manager 930 as described with reference to FIG. 9.
[0313] FIG. 18 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 1800 that supports SRS enhancement for uplink beam management in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. The operations of the method 1800 may be implemented by a network entity or its components as described herein. For example, the operations of the method 1800 may be performed by a network entity as described with reference to FIGs. 1 through 6 and 11 through 14. In some examples, a network entity may execute a set of instructions to control the functional elements of the network entity to perform the described functions. Additionally, or alternatively, the network entity may perform aspects of the described functions using special-purpose hardware.
[0314] At 1805, the method may include outputting, to a UE and via a downlink transmit point, one or more signals including an indication of a beam sweeping range to be applied during SRS transmissions to an uplink receive point, where the beam sweeping range is defined in accordance with a downlink receive beam corresponding to a downlink reference signal of a downlink transmit point and an angular offset relative to the downlink receive beam. The operations of 1805 may be performed in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 1805 may be performed by a beam sweeping range manager 1335 as described with reference to FIG. 13.
[0315] At 1810, the method may include obtaining the SRS transmissions at the uplink receive point in beam sweeping transmissions according to the beam sweeping range. The operations of 1810 may be performed in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 1810 may be performed by an SRS manager 1330 as described with reference to FIG. 13.
[0316] The following provides an overview of aspects of the present disclosure:
[0317] Aspect 1: A method for wireless communications at a UE, comprising: receiving one or more signals comprising an indication of a beam sweeping range to be applied during SRS transmissions to an uplink receive point, wherein the beam sweeping range is defined in accordance with a downlink receive beam corresponding to a downlink reference signal of a downlink transmit point and an angular offset relative to the downlink receive beam; and performing the SRS transmissions to the uplink receive point in beam sweeping transmissions according to the beam sweeping range.
[0318] Aspect 2: The method of aspect 1, wherein the angular offset comprises a horizontal angular offset, a vertical angular offset, or both.
[0319] Aspect 3: The method of any of aspects 1 through 2, wherein receiving the one or more signals comprises: receiving a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, wherein each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources is associated with a joint or uplink TCI state that identifies a source reference signal and the downlink receive beam is identified in accordance with the source reference signal.
[0320] Aspect 4: The method of any of aspects 1 through 3, wherein receiving the one or more signals comprises: receiving a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, wherein each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources is associated with a joint or uplink TCI state that identifies a pathloss reference signal and the downlink receive beam is identified in accordance with the pathloss reference signal.
[0321] Aspect 5: The method of any of aspects 1 through 4, wherein receiving the one or more signals comprises: receiving a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, wherein each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources is associated with a joint or uplink TCI state where a specific joint or uplink TCI state is used to identify the downlink reference signal for SRS resources in the set of SRS resources and the downlink receive beam is identified in accordance with the downlink reference signal.
[0322] Aspect 6: The method of aspect 5, wherein the downlink reference signal comprises either a source reference signal or a pathloss reference signal in the specific joint or uplink TCI state that is associated with a lowest resource identifier.
[0323] Aspect 7: The method of any of aspects 1 through 6, wherein the downlink receive beam corresponding to the downlink reference signal is configured or indicated on a per-SRS resource basis or on a per-SRS resource set basis.
[0324] Aspect 8: The method of any of aspects 1 through 7, wherein the downlink receive beam corresponding to the downlink reference signal is identified as a source reference signal in a current indicated joint or downlink TCI state associated with the downlink transmit point.
[0325] Aspect 9: The method of any of aspects 1 through 8, wherein receiving the one or more signals comprises: receiving a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, wherein each SRS resources in the set of SRS resources are associated with a joint or uplink TCI state that identifies the angular offset.
[0326] Aspect 10: The method of any of aspects 1 through 9, wherein receiving the one or more signals comprises: receiving a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, wherein each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources is associated with the angular offset.
[0327] Aspect 11: The method of any of aspects 1 through 10, wherein receiving the one or more signals comprises: receiving a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, wherein the set of SRS resources is associated with a common angular offset and a set of delta values that, for each corresponding SRS resource in the set of SRS resources, identify the angular offset for the corresponding SRS resource.
[0328] Aspect 12: The method of claim 11, wherein each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources is indicated with a corresponding delta value from the set of delta values.
[0329] Aspect 13: The method of claim 11, wherein each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources is indicated with a same delta value from the set of delta values and a corresponding delta value for the corresponding SRS resource is identified in accordance with an order or index of the corresponding SRS resource in the set of SRS resources.
[0330] Aspect 14: The method of any of aspects 1 through 13, further comprising: receiving a MAC-CE that indicates an update to the downlink reference signal, to the angular offset, or both.
[0331] Aspect 15: The method of aspect 14, wherein the update to the downlink reference signal, to the angular offset, or both, is associated with one or more joint or uplink TCI states.
[0332] Aspect 16: The method of any of aspects 14 through 15, wherein the update to the downlink reference signal, to the angular offset, or both, is associated with one or more SRS resources.
[0333] Aspect 17: The method of any of aspects 14 through 16, wherein the update to the downlink reference signal, to the angular offset, or both, is associated with one or more SRS resource sets.
[0334] Aspect 18: A method for wireless communications at a network entity, comprising: outputting, to a UE and via a downlink transmit point, one or more signals comprising an indication of a beam sweeping range to be applied during SRS transmissions to an uplink receive point, wherein the beam sweeping range is defined in accordance with a downlink receive beam corresponding to a downlink reference signal of a downlink transmit point and an angular offset relative to the downlink receive beam; and obtaining the SRS transmissions at the uplink receive point in beam sweeping transmissions according to the beam sweeping range.
[0335] Aspect 19: The method of aspect 18, wherein the angular offset comprises a horizontal angular offset, a vertical angular offset, or both.
[0336] Aspect 20: The method of any of aspects 18 through 19, wherein outputting the one or more signals comprises: outputting a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, wherein each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources is associated with a joint or uplink TCI state that identifies a source reference signal and the downlink receive beam is identified in accordance with the source reference signal.
[0337] Aspect 21: The method of any of aspects 18 through 20, wherein outputting the one or more signals comprises: outputting a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, wherein each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources is associated with a joint or uplink TCI state that identifies a pathloss reference signal and the downlink receive beam is identified in accordance with the pathloss reference signal.
[0338] Aspect 22: The method of any of aspects 18 through 21, wherein outputting the one or more signals comprises: outputting a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, wherein each SRS resource in the set of is associated with a joint or uplink TCI state where a specific joint or uplink TCI state is used to identify the downlink reference signal for SRS resources in the set of SRS resources and the downlink receive beam is identified in accordance with the downlink reference signal.
[0339] Aspect 23: The method of aspect 22, wherein the downlink reference signal comprises either a source reference signal or a pathloss reference signal in the specific joint or uplink TCI state that is associated with a lowest resource identifier.
[0340] Aspect 24: The method of any of aspects 18 through 23, wherein the downlink receive beam corresponding to the downlink reference signal is configured or indicated on a per-SRS resource basis or on a per-SRS resource set basis.
[0341] Aspect 25: The method of any of aspects 18 through 24, wherein the downlink receive beam corresponding to the downlink reference signal is identified as a source reference signal in a current indicated joint or downlink TCI state associated with the downlink transmit point.
[0342] Aspect 26: The method of any of aspects 18 through 25, wherein outputting the one or more signals comprises: outputting a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, wherein each SRS resources in the set of SRS resources are associated with a joint or uplink TCI state that identifies the angular offset.
[0343] Aspect 27: The method of any of aspects 18 through 26, wherein outputting the one or more signals comprises: outputting a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, wherein each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources is associated with the angular offset.
[0344] Aspect 28: The method of any of aspects 18 through 27, wherein outputting the one or more signals comprises: outputting a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, wherein the set of SRS resources is associated with a common angular offset and a set of delta values that, for each corresponding SRS resource in the set of SRS resources, identify the angular offset for the corresponding SRS resource.
[0345] Aspect 29: The method of claim 28, wherein each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources is indicated with a corresponding delta value from the set of delta values.
[0346] Aspect 30: The method of claim 28, wherein each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources is indicated with a same delta value from the set of delta values and a corresponding delta value for the corresponding SRS resource is identified in accordance with an order or index of the corresponding SRS resource in the set of SRS resources.
[0347] Aspect 31: The method of any of aspects 18 through 30, further comprising: outputting a MAC-CE that indicates an update to the downlink reference signal, to the angular offset, or both.
[0348] Aspect 32: The method of aspect 31, wherein the update to the downlink reference signal, to the angular offset, or both, is associated with one or more joint or uplink TCI states.
[0349] Aspect 33: The method of any of aspects 31 through 32, wherein the update to the downlink reference signal, to the angular offset, or both, is associated with one or more SRS resources.
[0350] Aspect 34: The method of any of aspects 31 through 33, wherein the update to the downlink reference signal, to the angular offset, or both, is associated with one or more SRS resource sets.
[0351] Aspect 35: 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 17.
[0352] Aspect 36: A UE for wireless communications, comprising at least one means for performing a method of any of aspects 1 through 17.
[0353] Aspect 37: 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 17.
[0354] Aspect 38: A network entity 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 network entity to perform a method of any of aspects 18 through 34.
[0355] Aspect 39: A network entity for wireless communications, comprising at least one means for performing a method of any of aspects 18 through 34.
[0356] Aspect 40: 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 18 through 34.
[0357] 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.
[0358] 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.
[0359] 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.
[0360] 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.
[0361] 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.
[0362] 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.
[0363] 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. ”
[0364] 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. ”
[0365] 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.
[0366] 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.
[0367] 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.
[0368] 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
1.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 one or more signals comprising an indication of a beam sweeping range to be applied during sounding reference signal (SRS) transmissions to an uplink receive point, wherein the beam sweeping range is defined in accordance with a downlink receive beam corresponding to a downlink reference signal of a downlink transmit point and an angular offset relative to the downlink receive beam; andperform the SRS transmissions to the uplink receive point in beam sweeping transmissions according to the beam sweeping range.2.The UE of claim 1, wherein the angular offset comprises a horizontal angular offset, a vertical angular offset, or both.3.The UE of claim 1, wherein, to receive the one or more signals, the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the UE to:receive a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, wherein each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources is associated with a joint or uplink transmission configuration indication (TCI) state that identifies a source reference signal and the downlink receive beam is identified in accordance with the source reference signal.4.The UE of claim 1, wherein, to receive the one or more signals, the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the UE to:receive a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, wherein each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources is associated with a joint or uplink transmission configuration indication (TCI) state that identifies a pathloss reference signal and the downlink receive beam is identified in accordance with the pathloss reference signal.5.The UE of claim 1, wherein, to receive the one or more signals, the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the UE to:receive a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, wherein each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources is associated with a joint of uplink transmission configuration indication (TCI) state where a specific joint or uplink TCI state is used to identify the downlink reference signal for SRS resources in the set of SRS resources and the downlink receive beam is identified in accordance with the downlink reference signal.6.The UE of claim 5, wherein the downlink reference signal comprises either a source reference signal or a pathloss reference signal in the specific joint or uplink TCI state that is associated with a lowest resource identifier.7.The UE of claim 1, wherein the downlink receive beam corresponding to the downlink reference signal is configured or indicated on a per-SRS resource basis or on a per-SRS resource set basis.8.The UE of claim 1, wherein the downlink receive beam corresponding to the downlink reference signal is identified as a source reference signal in a current indicated joint or downlink transmission configuration indication (TCI) state associated with the downlink transmit point.9.The UE of claim 1, wherein, to receive the one or more signals, the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the UE to:receive a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, wherein each SRS resources in the set of SRS resources are associated with a joint or uplink transmission configuration indication (TCI) state that identifies the angular offset.10.The UE of claim 1, wherein, to receive the one or more signals, the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the UE to:receive a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, wherein each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources is associated with the angular offset.11.The UE of claim 1, wherein, to receive the one or more signals, the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the UE to:receive a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, wherein the set of SRS resources is associated with a common angular offset and a set of delta values that, for each corresponding SRS resource in the set of SRS resources, identify the angular offset for the corresponding SRS resource.12.The UE of claim 11, wherein each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources is indicated with a corresponding delta value from the set of delta values.13.The UE of claim 11, wherein each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources is indicated with a same delta value from the set of delta values and a corresponding delta value for the corresponding SRS resource is identified in accordance with an order or index of the corresponding SRS resource in the set of SRS resources.14.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 a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE) that indicates an update to the downlink reference signal, to the angular offset, or both.15.The UE of claim 14, wherein:the update to the downlink reference signal, to the angular offset, or both, is associated with one or more joint or uplink transmission configuration indication (TCI) states.16.The UE of claim 14, wherein:the update to the downlink reference signal, to the angular offset, or both, is associated with one or more SRS resources.17.The UE of claim 14, wherein:the update to the downlink reference signal, to the angular offset, or both, is associated with one or more SRS resource sets.18.A network entity, 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 network entity to:output, to a user equipment (UE) and via a downlink transmit point, one or more signals comprising an indication of a beam sweeping range to be applied during sounding reference signal (SRS) transmissions to an uplink receive point, wherein the beam sweeping range is defined in accordance with a downlink receive beam corresponding to a downlink reference signal of a downlink transmit point and an angular offset relative to the downlink receive beam; andobtain the SRS transmissions at the uplink receive point in beam sweeping transmissions according to the beam sweeping range.19.The network entity of claim 18, wherein the angular offset comprises a horizontal angular offset, a vertical angular offset, or both.20.The network entity of claim 18, wherein, to output the one or more signals, the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the network entity to:output a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, wherein each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources is associated with a joint or uplink transmission configuration indication (TCI) state that identifies a source reference signal and the downlink receive beam is identified in accordance with the source reference signal.21.The network entity of claim 18, wherein, to output the one or more signals, the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the network entity to:output a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, wherein each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources is associated with a joint or uplink transmission configuration indication (TCI) state that identifies a pathloss reference signal and the downlink receive beam is identified in accordance with the pathloss reference signal.22.The network entity of claim 18, wherein, to output the one or more signals, the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the network entity to:output a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, wherein each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources is associated with a joint or uplink transmission configuration indication (TCI) state where a specific joint or uplink TCI state identifies the downlink reference signal for SRS resources in the set of SRS resources and the downlink receive beam is identified in accordance with the downlink reference signal.23.The network entity of claim 22, wherein the downlink reference signal comprises either a source reference signal or a pathloss reference signal in the specific joint or uplink TCI state that is associated with a lowest resource identifier.24.The network entity of claim 18, wherein the downlink receive beam corresponding to the downlink reference signal is configured or indicated on a per-SRS resource basis or on a per-SRS resource set basis.25.The network entity of claim 18, wherein the downlink receive beam corresponding to the downlink reference signal is identified as a source reference signal in a current indicated joint or downlink transmission configuration indication (TCI) state associated with the downlink transmit point.26.The network entity of claim 18, wherein, to output the one or more signals, the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the network entity to:output a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, wherein each SRS resources in the set of SRS resources are associated with a joint or uplink transmission configuration indication (TCI) state that identifies the angular offset.27.The network entity of claim 18, wherein, to output the one or more signals, the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the network entity to:output a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, wherein each SRS resource in the set of SRS resources is associated with the angular offset.28.The network entity of claim 18, wherein, to output the one or more signals, the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the network entity to:output a configuration for a set of SRS resources for performing the SRS transmissions, wherein the set of SRS resources is associated with a common angular offset and a set of delta values that, for each corresponding SRS resource in the set of SRS resources, identify the angular offset for the corresponding SRS resource.29.A method for wireless communications at a user equipment (UE) , comprising:receiving one or more signals comprising an indication of a beam sweeping range to be applied during sounding reference signal (SRS) transmissions to an uplink receive point, wherein the beam sweeping range is defined in accordance with a downlink receive beam corresponding to a downlink reference signal of a downlink transmit point and an angular offset relative to the downlink receive beam; andperforming the SRS transmissions to the uplink receive point in beam sweeping transmissions according to the beam sweeping range.30.A method for wireless communications at a network entity, comprising:outputting, to a user equipment (UE) and via a downlink transmit point, one or more signals comprising an indication of a beam sweeping range to be applied during sounding reference signal (SRS) transmissions to an uplink receive point, wherein the beam sweeping range is defined in accordance with a downlink receive beam corresponding to a downlink reference signal of a downlink transmit point and an angular offset relative to the downlink receive beam; andobtaining the SRS transmissions at the uplink receive point in beam sweeping transmissions according to the beam sweeping range.
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