Method and apparatus for supporting asymmertic DL / UL TRP deployments in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A User Equipment (UE) for supporting an asymmetric Downlink (DL) and Uplink (UL) Transmit receive Point (TRP) deployment is provided. The UE receives, from a Base Station (BS), a Transmission Configuration Indication (TCI) state, the TCI state associated with a pathloss offset value; receives, from the BS, a Physical Downlink Control CHannel (PDCCH) order, the PDCCH order including a Downlink Control Information (DCI) field; and determines a transmission power of a Physical Random Access CHannel (PRACH) transmission based on the DCI field. A bit field index of the DCI field indicates whether the pathloss offset value is applied for a determination of the transmission power of the PRACH transmission. In addition, a method and a Base Station (BS) are also provided.

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SUPPORTING ASYMMERTIC DL / UL TRP DEPLOYMENTS IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS

[0001] The present disclosure is related to wireless communication and, more specifically, to a User Equipment (UE), Base Station (BS), and method for supporting an asymmetric Downlink (DL) and Uplink (UL) Transmit receive Point (TRP) deployment in the wireless communication networks.

[0002] Various efforts have been made to improve different aspects of wireless communication for the cellular wireless communication systems, such as the 5thGeneration (5G) New Radio (NR), by improving data rate, latency, reliability, and mobility. The 5G NR system is designed to provide flexibility and configurability to optimize network services and types, accommodating various use cases, such as enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), massive Machine-Type Communication (mMTC), and Ultra-Reliable and Low-Latency Communication (URLLC). As the demand for radio access continues to grow, however, there exists a need for further improvements in the next-generation wireless communication systems, such as improvements in a beam management procedure.Summery of Invention

[0003] The present disclosure is directed to a User Equipment (UE), a Base Station (BS), and a method for supporting an asymmetric Downlink (DL) and Uplink (UL) Transmit receive Point (TRP) deployment in the wireless communication networks.

[0004] According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, a UE for supporting an asymmetric DL and UL TRP deployment is provided. The UE includes: at least one processor; and at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium coupled to the at least one processor and storing one or more computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the UE to: receive, from a BS, a Transmission Configuration Indication (TCI) state, the TCI state associated with a pathloss offset value; receive, from the BS, a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) order, the PDCCH order including a Downlink Control Information (DCI) field; and determine a transmission power of a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) transmission based on the DCI field. The DCI field indicates whether the pathloss offset value is applied for a determination of the transmission power of the PRACH transmission. In a case that a bit field index of the DCI field is 0, the pathloss offset value is not applied for the determination of the transmission power of the PRACH transmission, and in a case that the bit field index of the DCI field is 1, the pathloss offset value is applied for the determination of the transmission power of the PRACH transmission.

[0005] In an implementation of the first aspect, in a case that a bit field index of the DCI field is 0, the one or more computer-executable instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the UE to: determine the transmission power of the PRACH transmission based on a DL Reference Signal (RS), the DL RS quasi-collocated with a demodulation (DM) RS of the PDCCH order.

[0006] In another implementation of the first aspect, in a case that a bit field index of the DCI field is 1, the one or more computer-executable instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the UE to: determine the transmission power of the PRACH transmission based on a DL Reference Signal (RS) and the pathloss offset value, the DL RS associated with an RS used to provide a spatial relation of the TCI state associated with the pathloss offset value.

[0007] In another implementation of the first aspect, the RS used to provide the spatial relation of the TCI state associated with the pathloss offset value is a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS).

[0008] In another implementation of the first aspect, the one or more computer-executable instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the UE to: perform the PRACH transmission based on the transmission power.

[0009] In another implementation of the first aspect, the TCI state is one of a joint TCI state or an UL TCI state.

[0010] In another implementation of the first aspect, the one or more computer-executable instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the UE to: receive, from the BS, an indication that indicates the TCI state associated with the pathloss offset value.

[0011] According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, a BS for supporting an asymmetric DL and UL TRP deployment is provided. The BS includes: at least one processor; and at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium coupled to the at least one processor and storing one or more computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the BS to: transmit, to a UE, a TCI state, the TCI state associated with a pathloss offset value; and transmit, to the UE, a PDCCH order, the PDCCH order including a DCI field. The PDCCH order causes the UE to determine a transmission power of a PRACH transmission based on the DCI field, where the DCI field indicates whether the pathloss offset value is applied for a determination of the transmission power. In a case that a bit field index of the DCI field is 0, the pathloss offset value is not applied for the determination of the transmission power, and in a case that a bit field index of the DCI field is 1, the pathloss offset value is applied for the determination of the transmission power.

[0012] In an implementation of the second aspect, in a case that a bit field index of the DCI field is 0, the PDCCH order further causes the UE to: determine the transmission power of the PRACH transmission based on a DL RS, the DL RS quasi-collocated with a demodulation (DM) RS of the PDCCH order.

[0013] In another implementation of the second aspect, in a case that a bit field index of the DCI field is 1, the PDCCH order further causes the UE to: determine the transmission power of the PRACH transmission based on a DL RS and the pathloss offset value, the DL RS associated with an RS used to provide a spatial relation of the TCI state associated with the pathloss offset value.

[0014] In another implementation of the second aspect, the RS used to provide the spatial relation of the TCI state associated with the pathloss offset value is an SRS.

[0015] In another implementation of the second aspect, the PDCCH order further causes the UE to: perform the PRACH transmission based on the transmission power.

[0016] In another implementation of the second aspect, the TCI state is one of a joint TCI state or an UL TCI state.

[0017] In another implementation of the second aspect, the one or more computer-executable instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the BS to: transmit, to the UE, an indication that indicates the TCI state associated with the pathloss offset value.

[0018] According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, a method performed by a UE for supporting an asymmetric DL and UL TRP deployment is provided. The method includes: receiving, from a BS, a TCI state, the TCI state associated with a pathloss offset value; receiving, from the BS, a PDCCH order, the PDCCH order including a DCI field; and determining a transmission power of a PRACH transmission based on the DCI field. The DCI field indicates whether the pathloss offset value is applied for a determination of the transmission power of the PRACH transmission. In a case that a bit field index of the DCI field is 0, the pathloss offset value is not applied for the determination of the transmission power of the PRACH transmission, and in a case that a bit field index of the DCI field is 1, the pathloss offset value is applied for the determination of the transmission power of the PRACH transmission.

[0019] Aspects of the present disclosure are best understood from the following detailed disclosure and the corresponding figures. Various features are not drawn to scale and dimensions of various features may be arbitrarily increased or reduced for clarity of discussion.

[0020] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a macro cell and multiple micro cells, according to an example implementation of the present disclosure.

[0021] FIG. 2A is a diagram illustrating a downlink process in an asymmetric downlink (DL) / uplink (UL) transmission and reception point (TRP) deployment, according to an example implementation of the present disclosure.

[0022] FIG. 2B is a diagram illustrating an uplink process in an asymmetric DL / UL TRP deployment, according to an example implementation of the present disclosure.

[0023] FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a method / process performed by a User Equipment (UE) for supporting an asymmetric DL / UL TRP deployment, according to an example implementation of the present disclosure.

[0024] FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a node for wireless communication, according to an example implementation of the present disclosure.

[0025] Some of the abbreviations used in the present disclosure include: Abbreviation　　　　Full name 3GPP　　　　3rd Generation Partnership Project 5G　　　　5th Generation A-CSI　　　　Aperiodic Channel State Information ACK　　　　Acknowledgment AI　　　　Artificial Intelligence ARFCN　　　　Absolute Radio-Frequency Channel Number AS　　　　Access Stratum BA　　　　Bandwidth Adaptation BFR　　　　Beam Failure Recovery BM　　　　Beam Management BS　　　　Base Station BWP　　　　Bandwidth Part CA　　　　Carrier Aggregation CB　　　　CodeBook CC　　　　Component Carrier CCE　　　　Control Channel Element CD-SSB　　　　Cell-Defining Synchronization Signal Block CE　　　　Control Element CN　　　　Core Network CORESET　　　　Control resource set COT　　　　Channel Occupancy Time CPE　　　　Customer Permises Equipment C-RNTI　　　　Cell-Radio Network Temporary Identifier CSI　　　　Channel State Information CSI-RS　　　　Channel State Information-Reference Signal CS-RNTI　　　　Configured Scheduling Radio Network Temporary Identifier CSS　　　　Common Search Space DC　　　　Dual Connectivity DCI　　　　Downlink Control Information DCP　　　　DCI with CRC scrambled by PS-RNTI DL　　　　Downlink DL-AOA　　　　Downlink Angle-Of-Arrival DL-TDOA　　　　Downlink Time-Difference-Of-Arrival DRX　　　　Discontinuous Reception E-UTRA　　　　Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access FDM　　　　Frequency-Division Multiplexing FR　　　　Frequency Range FR1　　　　Frequency Range 1 FR1-2　　　　Frequency Range 1-2 FR2　　　　Frequency Range 2 FR2-2　　　　Frequency Range 2-2 FWA　　　　Fixed Wireless Access GC-PDCCH　　　　Group Common Physical Downlink Control Channel GNSS　　　　Global Navigation Satellite System GSCN　　　　Global Synchronization Channel Number GSO　　　　GeoSynchronous Orbit GW　　　　GateWay HARQ　　　　Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request HARQ-ACK　　　　HARQ Acknowledgement ID　　　　Identifier IE　　　　Information Element IIoT　　　　Industrial Internet of Things LCM　　　　Life Cycle Management LMF　　　　Location Management Function LTE　　　　Long Term Evolution LSB　　　　Least Significant Bit L1 / L2 / L3　　　　Layer 1 / Layer 2 / Layer 3 MAC　　　　Medium Access Control MAC CE　　　　MAC Control Element MCG　　　　Master Cell Group MCS　　　　Modulation and Coding Scheme MCS-RNTI　　　　Modulation Coding Scheme Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier MIB　　　　Master Information Block MIMO　　　　Multiple Input Multiple Output ML　　　　Machine Learning MPE　　　　Maximum Power Extrapolation MSB　　　　Most Significant Bit Msg1　　　　Message 1 MsgA　　　　Message A MsgB　　　　Message B Multi-TRP　　　　multiple Transmission and Reception Point NACK　　　　Negative Acknowledgment NAS　　　　Non-Access Stratum NCGI　　　　NR Cell Global Identifier NDI　　　　New Data Indicator NGSO　　　　Non-GeoSynchronous Orbit NES　　　　Network Energy Saving NG-RAN　　　　Next Generation RAN non-CB　　　　non-CodeBook NR　　　　New Radio NTN　　　　Non-Terrestrial Network NW　　　　Network OAM　　　　Operations, Administration and Maintenance OFDM　　　　Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing OSI　　　　Other SI / On-demand SI OTT　　　　Over the Top PBCH　　　　Physical Broadcast Channel PC　　　　Power Control PCell　　　　Primary Cell PCI　　　　Physical Cell Identity PDCCH　　　　Physical Downlink Control Channel PDSCH　　　　Physical Downlink Shared Channel PDU　　　　Protocol Data Unit PHY　　　　Physical (layer) PL-RS　　　　Path-Loss Reference Signal P-MPR　　　　Power management Maximum Power Reduction PH　　　　Power Headroom PHR　　　　Power Headroom Report PRACH　　　　Physical Random Access Channel PRS　　　　Positioning Reference Signal PS　　　　Power Saving PSS　　　　Primary Synchronization Signal PSCell　　　　Primary Secondary Cell PTAG　　　　Primary Timing Advance Group PUCCH　　　　Physical Uplink Control Channel PUSCH　　　　Physical Uplink Shared Channel QCL　　　　Quasi Co-Location RA　　　　Random Access RACH　　　　Random Access Channel RAN　　　　Radio Access Network RAR　　　　Random Access Response RAT　　　　Random Access Technology Rel　　　　Release RLF　　　　Radio Link Failure RMSI　　　　Remaining Minimum System Information RNA　　　　RAN Notification Area RNAU　　　　RAN Notification Area Update RNTI　　　　Radio Network Temporary Identifier RRC　　　　Radio Resource Control RRM　　　　Radio Resource Management RS　　　　Reference Signal RSRP　　　　Reference Signal Received Power RTT　　　　Round-Trip Time RV　　　　Redundancy Version Rx　　　　Reception SCell　　　　Secondary Cell SCG　　　　Secondary Cell Group SCS　　　　Subcarrier Spacing SDM　　　　Spatial Division Multiplexing SFN　　　　Single-Frequency Network SI　　　　System Information SIB　　　　System Information Block SIB1　　　　System Information Block 1 SINR　　　　Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio SMTC　　　　SSB Measurement Timing Configuration SpCell　　　　Special Cell SP-CSI　　　　Semi-Persistent Channel State Information SR　　　　Scheduling Request SRS　　　　Sounding Reference Signal SRI　　　　SRS Resource Indicator SS　　　　Synchronization Signal SSB　　　　Synchronization Signal Block SSS　　　　Secondary Synchronization Signal STAG　　　　Secondary Timing Advance Group STxMP　　　　Simultaneous Transmission with Multi-Panels TA　　　　Timing Advance TAG　　　　Timing Advance Group TB　　　　Transport Block TBS　　　　Transport Block Size TCI　　　　Transmission Configuration Indicator TDM　　　　Time Division Multiplexing TNL　　　　Transport Network Layer TPC　　　　Transmission Power Control TPMI　　　　Transmit Precoder Matrix Indication TR　　　　Technical Report TRI　　　　Transmit Rank Indication TS　　　　Technical Specification Tx　　　　Transmission UAC　　　　Unified Access Control UCI　　　　Uplink Control Information UE　　　　User Equipment UL　　　　Uplink URLLC　　　　Ultra-Reliable and Low-Latency Communication USS　　　　UE-Specific Search Space WCDMA　　　　Wideband Code Division Multiple Access WG　　　　Working Group WI　　　　Working Item WUS　　　　Wake-Up Signal XR　　　　eXtended Reality ZP-CSI-RS　　　　Zero Power Channel State Information Reference Signal

[0026] The following contains specific information related to implementations of the present disclosure. The drawings and their accompanying detailed disclosure are merely directed to implementations. However, the present disclosure is not limited to these implementations. Other variations and implementations of the present disclosure will be obvious to those skilled in the art.

[0027] Unless noted otherwise, like or corresponding elements among the drawings may be indicated by like or corresponding reference numerals. Moreover, the drawings and illustrations in the present disclosure are generally not to scale and are not intended to correspond to actual relative dimensions.

[0028] For the purposes of consistency and ease of understanding, like features may be identified (although, in some examples, not illustrated) by the same numerals in the drawings. However, the features in different implementations may be different in other respects and may not be narrowly confined to what is illustrated in the drawings.

[0029] References to “one implementation,” “an implementation,” “example implementation,” “various implementations,” “some implementations,” “implementations of the present application,” etc., may indicate that the implementation(s) of the present application so described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but not every possible implementation of the present application necessarily includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Further, repeated use of the phrase “In some implementations,” or “in an example implementation,” “an implementation,” do not necessarily refer to the same implementation, although they may. Moreover, any use of phrases like “implementations” in connection with “the present application” are never meant to characterize that all implementations of the present application must include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic, and should instead be understood to mean “at least some implementations of the present application” includes the stated particular feature, structure, or characteristic. The term “coupled” is defined as connected, whether directly or indirectly through intervening components, and is not necessarily limited to physical connections. The term “comprising,” when utilized, means “including, but not necessarily limited to”; it specifically indicates open-ended inclusion or membership in the so-described combination, group, series, and the equivalent.

[0030] The expression “at least one of A, B and C” or “at least one of the following: A, B and C” means “only A, or only B, or only C, or any combination of A, B and C.” The terms “system” and “network” may be used interchangeably. The term “and / or” is only an association relationship for describing associated objects and represents that three relationships may exist such that A and / or B may indicate that A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, or B exists alone. The character “ / ” generally represents that the associated objects are in an “or” relationship.

[0031] For the purposes of explanation and non-limitation, specific details, such as functional entities, techniques, protocols, and standards, are set forth for providing an understanding of the disclosed technology. In other examples, detailed disclosure of well-known methods, technologies, systems, and architectures are omitted so as not to obscure the present disclosure with unnecessary details.

[0032] Persons skilled in the art will immediately recognize that any network function(s) or algorithm(s) disclosed may be implemented by hardware, software, or a combination of software and hardware. Disclosed functions may correspond to modules which may be software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof.

[0033] A software implementation may include computer executable instructions stored on a computer-readable medium, such as memory or other type of storage devices. One or more microprocessors or general-purpose computers with communication processing capability may be programmed with corresponding executable instructions and perform the disclosed network function(s) or algorithm(s).

[0034] The microprocessors or general-purpose computers may include Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), programmable logic arrays, and / or one or more Digital Signal Processor (DSPs). Although some of the disclosed implementations are oriented to software installed and executing on computer hardware, alternative implementations implemented as firmware, as hardware, or as a combination of hardware and software are well within the scope of the present disclosure. The computer-readable medium includes but is not limited to Random Access Memory (RAM), Read Only Memory (ROM), Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM), flash memory, Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (CD-ROM), magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage, or any other equivalent medium capable of storing computer-readable instructions.

[0035] A radio communication network architecture such as a Long-Term Evolution (LTE) system, an LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) system, an LTE-Advanced Pro system, or a 5G NR Radio Access Network (RAN) typically includes at least one base station (BS), at least one UE, and one or more optional network elements that provide connection within a network. The UE communicates with the network such as a Core Network (CN), an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network, an Evolved Universal Terrestrial RAN (E-UTRAN), a 5G Core (5GC), or an internet via a RAN established by one or more BSs.

[0036] A UE may include, but is not limited to, a mobile station, a mobile terminal or device, or a user communication radio terminal. The UE may be a portable radio equipment that includes, but is not limited to, a mobile phone, a tablet, a wearable device, a sensor, a vehicle, or a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) with wireless communication capability. The UE is configured to receive and transmit signals over an air interface to one or more cells in a RAN.

[0037] The BS may be configured to provide communication services according to at least a Radio Access Technology (RAT) such as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) that is often referred to as 2G, GSM Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) RAN (GERAN), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) that is often referred to as 3G based on basic wideband-code division multiple access (W-CDMA), high-speed packet access (HSPA), LTE, LTE-A, evolved LTE (eLTE) that is LTE connected to 5GC, NR (often referred to as 5G), and / or LTE-A Pro. However, the scope of the present disclosure is not limited to these protocols.

[0038] The BS may include, but is not limited to, a node B (NB) in the UMTS, an evolved node B (eNB) in LTE or LTE-A, a radio network controller (RNC) in UMTS, a BS controller (BSC) in the GSM / GERAN, an ng-eNB in an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) BS in connection with 5GC, a next generation Node B (gNB) in the 5G-RAN, or any other apparatus capable of controlling radio communication and managing radio resources within a cell. The BS may serve one or more UEs via a radio interface. Although the gNB is used as an example in some implementations within the present disclosure, it should be noted that the disclosed implementations may also be applied to other types of base stations.

[0039] The BS may be operable to provide radio coverage to a specific geographical area using multiple cells forming the RAN. The BS may support the operations of the cells. Each cell may be operable to provide services to at least one UE within its radio coverage.

[0040] Each cell (may often referred to as a serving cell) may provide services to one or more UEs within the cell’s radio coverage, such that each cell schedules the DL (and optionally UL resources) to at least one UE within its radio coverage for DL (and optionally UL packet transmissions from the UE). The BS may communicate with one or more UEs in the radio communication system via the cells.

[0041] A cell may allocate sidelink (SL) resources for supporting the Proximity Services (ProSe) or Vehicle to Everything (V2X) services. Each cell may have overlapped coverage areas with other cells.

[0042] In Multi-RAT Dual Connectivity (MR-DC) cases, the primary cell of a Master Cell Group (MCG) or a Secondary Cell Group (SCG) may be referred to as a Special Cell (SpCell). A Primary Cell (PCell) may include the SpCell of an MCG. A Primary SCG Cell (PSCell) may include the SpCell of an SCG. MCG may include a group of serving cells associated with the Master Node (MN), including the SpCell and optionally one or more Secondary Cells (SCells). An SCG may include a group of serving cells associated with the Secondary Node (SN), including the SpCell and optionally one or more SCells.

[0043] As discussed above, the frame structure for NR may support flexible configurations for accommodating various next generation (e.g., 5G) communication requirements, such as Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC), and Ultra-Reliable and Low-Latency Communication (URLLC), while fulfilling high reliability, high data rate, and low latency requirements. The Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) technology in the 3GPP may serve as a baseline for an NR waveform. The scalable OFDM numerology, such as adaptive sub-carrier spacing, channel bandwidth, and Cyclic Prefix (CP), may also be used.

[0044] Two coding schemes may be considered for NR, specifically, Low-Density Parity-Check (LDPC) code and Polar Code. The coding scheme adaption may be configured based on channel conditions and / or service applications.

[0045] At least the DL transmission data, a guard period, and UL transmission data should be included in a transmission time interval (TTI) of a single NR frame. The respective portions of the DL transmission data, the guard period, and the UL transmission data should also be configurable based on, for example, the network dynamics of NR. SL resources may also be provided in an NR frame to support ProSe services or V2X services.

[0046] Any two or more than two of the following paragraphs, (sub)-bullets, points, actions, behaviors, terms, or claims described in the present disclosure may be combined logically, reasonably, and properly to form a specific method.

[0047] Any sentence, paragraph, (sub)-bullet, point, action, behaviors, terms, or claims described in the present disclosure may be implemented independently and separately to form a specific method.

[0048] Dependency, e.g., “based on”, “more specifically”, “preferably”, “in one embodiment”, “in some implementations”, etc., in the present disclosure is just one possible example which would not restrict the specific method.

[0049] In some implementations, all the designs / embodiment / implementations introduced within this disclosure are not limited to be applied for dealing with the problems discussed within this disclosure. For example, the described embodiments may be applied to solve other problems that exist in the RAN of wireless communication systems. In some implementations, all of the numbers listed within the designs / embodiment / implementations introduced within this disclosure are just examples and for illustration, for example, of how the described methods are executed.

[0050] It is recognized that certain deployment scenarios involving asymmetric DownLink (DL) single Transmission Reception Point (sTRP) and UpLink (UL) multiple Transmission Reception Points (mTRP) remain under study in standardization discussions. These scenarios may include intra-band, intra-distributed unit (DU), non-co-located mTRP configurations. Notably, such studies aim to support enhancements without modifying existing cell definitions or introducing new cell types (e.g., UL-only cells). The enhancements may be based on the unified transmission configuration indicator (TCI) framework and leverage existing quasi co-location (QCL) and uplink spatial relation rules. Such enhancements may target both Frequency Range 1 (FR1) and Frequency Range 2 (FR2).

[0051] Further enhancements under consideration may include, for example, two closed-loop power control adjustment states for sounding reference signals (SRS), which may be configured independently of the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), as well as configurations of pathloss offsets for determining pathloss values to uplink TRPs when the reference signal used for pathloss estimation is transmitted from a downlink sTRP.

[0052] In some implementations, a UE may be configured with a list of pathloss offsets via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling. The list of pathloss offset values may include N candidate pathloss offset values, and N may be a positive integer number. The UE may receive a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) order used to initiate a random access procedure. If the UE is configured with a list of pathloss offset values via RRC signaling, the PDCCH order may include a Downlink Control Information (DCI) field to indicate a pathloss offset from the configured list of pathloss offsets. The UE may then determine the transmission power of a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) transmission based on a specific Downlink (DL) Reference Signal (RS) and the pathloss offset indicated in the PDCCH order. The specific DL RS may be a DL RS that a demodulation (DM) RS of the PDCCH order is quasi-collocated with if a bit field index of the DCI field is ‘0’. The specific DL RS may be a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) indicated in a SS / Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) index field of the PDCCH order if a bit field index of the DCI field is a positive integer ‘K’ other than ‘0’. Finally, the UE may perform the PRACH transmission based on the determined transmission power.

[0053] In some implementations, if the bit field index of the DCI field is ‘0’, the UE may determine the transmission power of the PRACH without pathloss offsets. If a bit field index of the DCI field is a positive integer ‘K’ other than ‘0’, the UE may determine the transmission power of the PRACH with the K-th candidate pathloss offset value included in the list of pathloss offsets. It is noted that the size of the DCI field may be the smallest integer value which is greater than or equal to log2(N+1).

[0054] In some implementations, a UE may be indicated a first (e.g., joint) TCI state and a second (e.g., joint) TCI state for performing mTRP UL transmission(s). The first TCI state may be associated with a pathloss offset. The UE may receive a PDCCH order used to initiate a random access procedure. If the first TCI state is associated with a pathloss offset, the PDCCH order may include a DCI field used to indicate whether to apply the pathloss offset value for PRACH transmission power determination. The UE may then determine a transmission power of a PRACH based on a specific DL RS and the DCI field.

[0055] In some implementations, if a bit field index of the DCI field is ‘0’, the pathloss offset value may not be applied for PRACH transmission power determination, and the specific DL RS may be a DL RS that the DM RS of the PDCCH order is quasi-collocated with. If the bit field index of the DCI field is ‘1’, the pathloss offset value may be applied for PRACH transmission power determination, and the specific DL RS may be associated with a reference signal used to provide the spatial relation of the first indicated (e.g., joint) TCI state associated with the pathloss offset value. Finally, the UE may perform the PRACH transmission based on the determined transmission power. It is noted that the reference signal for which the first (e.g., joint) TCI state is associated with the pathloss offset value may be a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS).

[0056] To improve UL throughput, a heterogeneous network may be used. Generally, the heterogeneous network may be constructed by various types of cells (e.g., macro cell, micro cell, pico cell, and femto cell). Each type of cell may have different coverage ranges. For instance, macro cells may have the largest coverage range. The coverage range of micro cells may be within the coverage range of a macro cell.

[0057] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a macro cell and multiple micro cells, according to an example implementation of the present disclosure.

[0058] Referring to FIG. 1, one macro cell 101 and multiple micro cells 103, 105 deployed within the coverage of the macro cell 101 are illustrated. In addition, a UE 10 is located in the coverage of the macro cell 101 and the coverages of the micro cells 103, 105.

[0059] For example, the UE 10 may transmit UL signals to either the gNB 11 serving the macro cell 101 (also referred to as macro cell gNB 11) or the non-co-located nodes 13, 15 serving the micro cells 103, 105 (also referred to as micro cell nodes 13, 15). Due to limited UE transmit power, the UE 10 may transmit UL signals to the micro cell node(s) 13, 15 to maximize UL throughput. For DL transmission, since the macro cell gNB 11 may have a larger power rating than a micro cell node (e.g., 13 or 15), it does not matter whether the UE 10 receives the DL signals from the macro cell gNB 11 or the micro cell modes 13, 15. However, the network may reduce or even turn off DL transmission(s) from micro cell(s) 13, 15 to reduce network energy consumption if the UE 10 (always) receives the DL signals from the macro cell gNB 11. Based on the consideration above, for both the UE 10 and the network, it may be beneficial for the UE 10 to receive the DL signal(s) from the macro cell gNB 11 and transmit the UL signal(s) to the micro cell node(s) 13, 15.

[0060] Accordingly, the present disclosure may discuss how to achieve asymmetric DL sTRP and UL mTRP deployment scenarios. In some implementations, in an asymmetric DL sTRP and UL mTRP deployment (e.g., also referred to as an asymmetric DL / UL TRP deployment), the UE may only receive DL signal(s) from only a first TRP but transmit UL signal(s) to both the first TRP and a second TRP. In other words, some of the TRP(s) (e.g., the second TRP) may only be used for receiving UL signal(s).

[0061] FIG. 2A is a diagram illustrating a downlink process in an asymmetric DL / UL TRP deployment, according to an example implementation of the present disclosure. FIG. 2B is a diagram illustrating an uplink process in an asymmetric DL / UL TRP deployment, according to an example implementation of the present disclosure.

[0062] Referring to FIGS. 2A and 2B, the UE 20 may receive DL signals from a first TRP 21 (which is referred to as a regular TRP 21) in the downlink process, and transmit UL signals to both the first TRP 21 and a second TRP 23 (which is referred to as an UL TRP 23) in the uplink process. It is noted that a regular TRP 21 may mean that the TRP may transmit DL signals to a UE 20 and receive UL signals from the UE 20. An UL TRP 23 may mean that the TRP may not transmit any DL signals to a UE 20 but only receive the UL signals from the UE 20. In some implementations, an UL TRP 23 may mean that the TRP may not transmit any DL signals, which are used for UE measurement or pathloss determination, to a UE 20, but the TRP may receive the UL signals from the UE 20.

[0063] In some implementations, one of the critical issues may be the beam / power determination for the PRACH transmission toward UL TRP(s) 23. Generally, the PRACH transmission may be determined based on the Channel State Information-Reference Signal (CSI-RS) or SSB. Since the UL TRP 23 may not transmit any DL signals (e.g., SSB, CSI-RS, PDCCH, Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH)) to the UE 20, it may result in the UE 20 being unable to determine the transmission beam / power for the PRACH transmission between the UE 20 and UL TRP(s) 23. More specifically, the UE 20 may not be able to determine the transmission power / beam for the PRACH transmission between the UE 20 and the second TRP 23.

[0064] In some implementations, if the Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) of a DCI format 1_0 is scrambled by Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) and the field of “Frequency domain resource assignment” are all ones, the DCI format 1_0 may be for a random access procedure initiated by a PDCCH order.

[0065] It is noted that a DCI field mentioned in the present disclosure may be used for Pathloss-Reference Signal (PL-RS) determination for a PRACH transmission (only), UL Transmit (Tx) filter determination for a PRACH transmission (only), pathloss offset value determination (only), joint PL-RS and UL Tx filter determination, joint PL-RS and pathloss offset value determination, joint UL Tx filter and pathloss offset value determination, or joint UL Tx filter / PL-RS / pathloss offset value determination.

[0066] It is noted that a first SRS resource set mentioned in the present disclosure may be referred to as the SRS resource set associated with the regular TRP (e.g., the first TRP 21) or the UL TRP (e.g., the second TRP 23). Additionally, the first SRS resource set may be referred to as the SRS resource set with the lowest index.

[0067] It is noted that a second SRS resource set mentioned in the present disclosure may be referred to as the SRS resource set associated with the regular TRP (e.g., the first TRP 21) or the UL TRP (e.g., the second TRP 23). Additionally, the second SRS resource set may be referred to as the SRS resource set with a larger index than all configured SRS resource sets.

[0068] It is noted that a first TCI state (e.g., joint TCI state or UL TCI state) mentioned in the present disclosure may be referred to as the TCI state (e.g., joint TCI state or UL TCI state) applied to the UL transmission toward the regular TRP (e.g., the first TRP 21) or the UL TRP (e.g., the second TRP 23). Additionally, the first TCI state (e.g., joint TCI state or UL TCI state) may be referred to as the TCI state (e.g., joint TCI state or UL TCI state) indicated in a first TCI field included in a DL DCI.

[0069] It is noted that a second TCI state (e.g., joint TCI state or UL TCI state) mentioned in the present disclosure may be referred to as the TCI state (e.g., joint TCI state or UL TCI state) applied for the UL transmission toward the regular TRP (e.g., the first TRP 21) or the UL TRP (e.g., the second TRP 23). Additionally, the second TCI state (e.g., joint TCI state or UL TCI state) may be referred to as the TCI state (e.g., joint TCI state or UL TCI state) indicated in a second TCI field included in a DL DCI.

[0070] In some implementations, the predefined pathloss (PL) offset mentioned in the present disclosure may be P dB or P dBm, where P is an integer.

[0071] Generally, when a UE performs a PRACH transmission to a specific TRP / gNB, the UE may be required to determine the transmission power for the PRACH transmission based on a DL RS. For example, if a UE performs a PRACH transmission for a non-serving cell, the UE may determine the pathloss based on the SSB associated with the PRACH transmission. The determined pathloss may then be used to calculate the transmission power for the PRACH transmission. For another example, if a PRACH transmission from a UE is in response to a detection of a PDCCH order by the UE that triggers a contention-free random access procedure, and when a value of a PRACH association indicator field in the PDCCH order is 0, the PRACH transmission may depend on the DL RS that the DM-RS of the PDCCH order is quasi-collocated with. However, an UL TRP may not transmit any DL signals to the UE. This means the UE may be unable to obtain the DL RS transmitted from the UL TRP, which is needed to calculate the transmission power for the PRACH transmission towards the UL TRP.

[0072] In the asymmetric DL sTRP / UL mTRP deployment scenarios, the UL TRP is defined as the TRP that does not transmit any DL signals (e.g., SSB, CSI-RS, PDCCH, PDSCH) to a UE. In other words, the UE may not receive any DL signals (e.g., SSB, CSI-RS, PDCCH, PDSCH) from the UL TRPs. Based on such a situation, the UE may be required to calculate the pathloss for determining the transmit power of the PRACH transmission between the UE and the UL TRP without receiving the DL RSs from the UL TRP. However, the UE may still need to obtain a DL RS to determine the pathloss between the UE and the UL TRP.

[0073] Therefore, the DL RS(s) transmitted from the regular TRP or a configured DL RS(s), regardless of being transmitted from a regular TRP or special TRP (e.g., DL-only TRP), may be used as the pathloss RS for determining the pathloss between the UE and the UL TRP. Since the channel characteristic between the UE and the regular TRP or special TRP may be different from the channel characteristic between the UE and the UL TRP, the pathloss may be adjusted by a pathloss offset if the UE uses the DL RS(s) from the regular TRP or special TRP to determine the pathloss between the UE and the UL TRP. Hence, how to configure the pathloss offset to the UE in the asymmetric DL sTRP / UL mTRP deployment scenarios may be a critical issue.

[0074] For a PRACH transmission toward an UL TRP, a UE may be configured with one or more pathloss offset(s) and a reference DL RS (e.g., by the NW / gNB) to determine the transmission power of the PRACH transmission. At least two alternatives may be used to configure and / or indicate pathloss offset(s) to the UE for determining or calculating the transmission power of the PRACH transmission toward the UL TRP.

[0075] In some implementations, a UE may be configured with one or more pathloss offset(s) via RRC signaling. The UE may then receive a PDCCH order indicating a pathloss offset from these RRC-configured pathloss offset values for the PRACH transmission toward a TRP. It is noted that the TRP may be an UL TRP, a TRP without an SSB signal, or a TRP different from the TRP transmitting the PDCCH order.

[0076] In some implementations, a UE may be indicated a (e.g., joint / UL) TCI state for a PRACH transmission toward a TRP, where the PRACH transmission may be initiated by a PDCCH order. Additionally, the configuration of the indicated (e.g., joint / UL) TCI state may include a pathloss offset. It is noted that the TRP may be an UL TRP, a TRP without an SSB signal, or a TRP different from the TRP transmitting the PDCCH order.

[0077] In some implementations, a UE may be informed that the UL transmission (e.g., PRACH transmission) is operated on the asymmetric DL sTRP / UL mTRP deployment scenarios via explicit way(s) or implicit way(s). In some implementations, a UE may be informed that the UL transmission (e.g., PRACH transmission) is operated on the asymmetric DL sTRP / UL mTRP deployment scenarios via RRC signaling. In some implementations, one or more IEs and / or one or more fields may be included in an RRC configuration (e.g., RACH configuration(s), TCI state configuration(s), SRS resource set / SRS resource configuration, and / or serving cell configuration(s)). The one or more IEs and / or one or more fields may explicitly indicate that the UL transmission (e.g., PRACH transmission, mTRP-based PUSCH transmission, mTRP-based PUCCH transmission, and / or mTRP-based SRS transmission) performed by the UE is under the asymmetric DL sTRP / UL mTRP deployment scenarios.

[0078] In some implementations, a UE may be informed that the UL transmission (e.g., PRACH transmission) is operated on the asymmetric DL sTRP / UL mTRP deployment scenarios via a specific RNTI.

[0079] In some implementations, the UE may be configured with a specific RNTI (e.g., X-RNTI) used to indicate that the UL transmission is operated on the asymmetric DL sTRP / UL mTRP deployment scenarios via RRC signaling. If the UE receives a DCI format with CRC scrambled by the specific RNTI (e.g., X-RNTI), the UE may perform the UL transmission under the asymmetric DL sTRP / UL mTRP deployment scenarios. More specifically, if the UE receives a DCI used to schedule UL transmission and the CRC of the DCI is scrambled by the specific RNTI (e.g., X-RNTI), the UE may apply the pathloss offset associated with the corresponding (e.g., joint / UL) TCI state(s) indicated for the UL transmission to the scheduled UL transmission, if any.

[0080] In some implementations, the UE may be configured with a specific RNTI (e.g., X-RNTI) used to indicate that the UL transmission is operated on the asymmetric DL sTRP / UL mTRP deployment scenarios via RRC signaling. If the UE receives a DCI format 1_0, where the CRC of the DCI format 1_0 is scrambled by X-RNTI and the “Frequency domain resource assignment” field is all ones, the DCI format 1_0 may be for a random access procedure initiated by a PDCCH order for asymmetric DL sTRP / UL mTRP deployment scenarios.

[0081] In some implementations, a UE may be informed that the UL transmission (e.g., PRACH transmission) is operated on the asymmetric DL sTRP / UL mTRP deployment scenarios via RRC signaling. In some implementations, if the RRC configuration configured to the UE (e.g., TCI state configuration and / or PRACH configuration) includes at least one pathloss offset (configuration / value), the UE may be implicitly informed that the UL transmission (e.g., PRACH transmission, mTRP-based PUSCH transmission, mTRP-based PUCCH transmission, and / or mTRP-based SRS transmission) performed by the UE is under the asymmetric DL sTRP / UL mTRP deployment scenarios.

[0082] In some implementations, one or more DL or joint TCI state(s) associated with an UL TRP may include SRS resource related information (e.g., SRS resource index), where the SRS resource related information may be used to determine the reference signal for the spatial filter of the UL transmission (e.g., PRACH transmission, PUSCH transmission, PUCCH transmission, and / or SRS transmission). In such a case, the UE may be implicitly informed that the UL transmission (e.g., PRACH transmission, mTRP-based PUSCH transmission, mTRP-based PUCCH transmission, and / or mTRP-based SRS transmission) associated with these DL or joint TCI states are under the asymmetric DL sTRP / UL mTRP deployment scenarios.

[0083] In some implementations, a UE may be informed that the UL transmission (e.g., PRACH transmission) is operated on the asymmetric DL sTRP / UL mTRP deployment scenarios via a MAC CE. In some implementations, if the TCI state activation / deactivation command MAC CE activates the TCI state combination such as (joint TCI state, UL TCI state), (DL TCI state + UL TCI state, UL TCI state) for mTRP-based UL / DL transmissions, the UE may be implicitly informed that the UL transmission (e.g., PRACH transmission, mTRP-based PUSCH transmission, mTRP-based PUCCH transmission, and / or mTRP-based SRS transmission) associated with these DL or joint TCI states are under the asymmetric DL sTRP / UL mTRP deployment scenarios.

[0084] In some implementations, a UE may be configured with a PRACH configuration via RRC signaling, where the PRACH configuration may include at least one pathloss offset value(s) for determining the pathloss used to determine or calculate the transmission power of a PRACH transmission associated with an UL TRP.

[0085] In some implementations, a UE may receive a PDCCH order initiating a random access procedure. In some implementations, the PDCCH order may include a DCI field used to indicate a pathloss offset for determining the transmission power of a PRACH transmission. It is noted that the PRACH transmission initiated by the PDCCH order may be associated with an UL TRP. If the UE has received an RRC field / IE / parameter explicitly indicating that the UL and / or DL transmission performed by the UE is under asymmetric DL sTRP / UL mTRP deployment scenarios, an RRC field / IE / parameter explicitly indicating that the PDCCH order includes a field used to indicate a pathloss offset index, a PRACH configuration including (more than one) pathloss offset values, (at least one) TCI state included in a list of DL or joint TCI states includes pathloss offset value(s) and / or (at least one) UL TCI state included in a list of UL TCI states includes pathloss offset value(s), the PDCCH order may include a DCI field used to indicate a pathloss offset for determining the transmission power of a PRACH transmission.

[0086] In some implementations, in a case that a UE receives a PRACH configuration including (at least one) pathloss offset value(s), the UE may receive a PDCCH order including a DCI field at least used to indicate a pathloss offset value for determining the transmission power of a PRACH transmission. Alternatively, a DCI field included in the PDCCH order may be used to indicate a pathloss offset value to be applied to a PRACH transmission (towards an UL TRP) and indicate that the random access procedure initiated by the PDCCH order is associated with a regular TRP or an UL TRP. For example, a UE may be configured with N pathloss offset values (e.g., in a RACH configuration). When the UE receives a PDCCH order initiating a random access procedure, if the UE is configured with pathloss offset value(s), the PDCCH order may include a DCI field (e.g., PL offset field) with the size of ceil(log2(N+1)) bits, where N is the number of configured pathloss offset values. Additionally, the maximum number of the configured pathloss offsets may be configured to the UE via RRC signaling. In some implementations, the maximum number of the configured pathloss offsets may not be larger than 2K, where K may be the number of reserved bits of the PDCCH order. If the UE is not configured with pathloss offset value(s) (e.g., in a RACH configuration), the DCI field (e.g., PL offset field) may be 0 bit (e.g., the DCI field is absent).

[0087] In some implementations, the bit field index 0 of the DCI field (e.g., PL offset field) may indicate that the pathloss offset value is 0 and / or the random access procedure initiated by the PDCCH order is associated with the regular TRP. In some implementations, the bit field index 0 of the DCI field (e.g., PL offset field) may indicate that the random access procedure initiated by the PDCCH order is associated with the regular TRP and the pathloss offset may not be used to calculate the transmission power of the corresponding PRACH transmission towards the regular TRP. Other bit field indexes except for bit field index 0 may be mapped to the configured pathloss offset values in an ascending order. Specifically, the bit field index 1 may be mapped to the first pathloss offset value among N pathloss offset values (e.g., in a PRACH configuration), the bit field index 2 may be mapped to the second pathloss offset value among N pathloss offset values (e.g., in a PRACH configuration) and so on. Additionally, other bit field indexes except index 0 may indicate that the random access procedure initiated by the PDCCH order is associated with an UL TRP.

[0088] In some implementations, if the DCI field indicates bit field index M, where M is larger than 0, the UE may determine the transmission power of the PRACH transmission towards an UL TRP based on the M-th pathloss offset included in the set / list of configured pathloss offsets (e.g., in the RACH configuration).

[0089] In some implementations, if the DCI field indicates bit field index M which is larger than 0 and the UL / SUL indicator field indicates the “supplementary uplink”, the UE may determine the transmission power of the PRACH transmission towards the UL TRP based on the M-th pathloss offset included in the set / list of configured pathloss offsets (e.g., in the RACH configuration) and a predefined pathloss offset. If the DCI field indicates bit field index M which is larger than 0 and the UL / SUL indicator field indicates the “non-supplementary uplink”, the UE may determine the transmission power of the PRACH transmission towards the UL TRP based on the M-th pathloss offset included in the set / list of configured pathloss offsets (in the RACH configuration). In some implementations, if the DCI field indicates bit field index M which is larger than 0 and the UL / SUL indicator field indicates the “non-supplementary uplink”, the UE may determine the transmission power of the PRACH transmission towards the UL TRP based on the M-th pathloss offset included in the set / list of configured pathloss offsets (in the RACH configuration) and a predefined pathloss offset. If the DCI field indicates bit field index M which is larger than 0 and the UL / SUL indicator field indicates the “supplementary uplink”, the UE may determine the transmission power of the PRACH transmission towards the UL TRP based on the M-th pathloss offset included in the set / list of configured pathloss offsets (in the RACH configuration).

[0090] For example, a UE may be configured with a set / list of pathloss offset values, e.g., N pathloss offset values (e.g., in a RACH configuration). Additionally, if the UE is configured with supplementaryUplink in ServingCellConfig, the UE may be further configured with a pathloss offset value (e.g., a specific pathloss offset). When the UE receives a PDCCH order initiating a random access procedure, if the UE is configured with pathloss offset value(s), the PDCCH order may include a DCI field (e.g., PL offset field) with the size of ceil(log2(N+1)) bits, where N is the number of configured pathloss offset values included in the set / list of configured pathloss offset values. Additionally, the maximum number of the configured pathloss offsets that can be included in the set / list of configured pathloss offset values may be configured to the UE via RRC signaling. In some implementations, the maximum number of the configured pathloss offsets that can be included in the set / list of configured pathloss offset values may not be larger than 2K, where K may be the number of reserved bits of the PDCCH order. If the UE is not configured with pathloss offset value(s) (in a RACH configuration), the DCI field (e.g., PL offset field) may be 0 bit (e.g., the DCI field is absent).

[0091] In some implementations, the bit field index 0 of the DCI field (e.g., PL offset field) may indicate that the pathloss offset value is 0 and / or the random access procedure initiated by the PDCCH order is associated with the regular TRP. In some implementations, the bit field index 0 of the DCI field (e.g., PL offset field) may indicate that the random access procedure initiated by the PDCCH order is associated with the regular TRP and the pathloss offset may not be used to calculate the transmission power of the corresponding PRACH transmission towards the regular TRP. Other bit field indexes except for bit field index 0 may be mapped to the configured pathloss offset values in ascending order. Specifically, the bit field index 1 may be mapped to the first pathloss offset value among N pathloss offset values (e.g., in a PRACH configuration), the bit field index 2 may be mapped to the second pathloss offset value among N pathloss offset values (e.g., in a PRACH configuration) and so on. Additionally, other bit field indexes except index 0 may indicate that the random access procedure initiated by the PDCCH order is associated with an UL TRP.

[0092] In some implementations, if the DCI field indicates bit field index M which is larger than 0 and the UL / SUL indicator field indicates the “supplementary uplink”, the UE may determine the transmission power of the PRACH transmission towards the UL TRP based on the M-th pathloss offset included in the set / list of configured pathloss offsets (e.g., in the RACH configuration) and the specific pathloss offset. If the DCI field indicates bit field index M which is larger than 0 and the UL / SUL indicator field indicates the “non-supplementary uplink”, the UE may determine the transmission power of the PRACH transmission towards the UL TRP based on the M-th pathloss offset included in the set / list of configured pathloss offsets (e.g., in the RACH configuration). In some implementations, if the DCI field indicates bit field index M which is larger than 0 and the UL / SUL indicator field indicates the “non-supplementary uplink”, the UE may determine the transmission power of the PRACH transmission towards the UL TRP based on the M-th pathloss offset included in the set / list of configured pathloss offsets (e.g., in the RACH configuration) and the specific pathloss offset. If the DCI field indicates bit field index M which is larger than 0 and the UL / SUL indicator field indicates the “supplementary uplink”, the UE may determine the transmission power of the PRACH transmission towards the UL TRP based on the M-th pathloss offset included in the set / list of configured pathloss offsets (e.g., in the RACH configuration).

[0093] For example, a UE may be configured with N pathloss offset values (e.g., in a RACH configuration). When the UE receives a PDCCH order initiating a random access procedure, if the UE is configured with pathloss offset value(s), the PDCCH order may include a DCI field (e.g., PL offset field) with the size of ceil(log2(N+1)) bits, where N is the number of configured pathloss offset values. If the UE is not configured with pathloss offset value(s) (e.g., in a RACH configuration), the DCI field (e.g., PL offset field) may be 0 bit (e.g., the DCI field is absent). It is noted that bit field indexes of the DCI field (e.g., PL offset field) may be mapped to the configured pathloss offset values in an ascending order. Specifically, the bit field index 0 may be mapped to the first pathloss offset value among N pathloss offset values (e.g., in a PRACH configuration), the bit field index 1 may be mapped to the second pathloss offset value among N pathloss offset values (e.g., in a PRACH configuration) and so on.

[0094] In some implementations, a UE may be configured with a pathloss offset value (e.g., in a RACH transmission). When the UE receives a PDCCH order initiating a random access procedure, if the UE is configured with pathloss offset value(s), the PDCCH order may include a DCI field (e.g., PL offset field or PRACH association indicator field) with the size of 1 bit. If the UE is not configured with a pathloss offset value (e.g., in a RACH configuration), the DCI field (e.g., PL offset field or PRACH association indicator field) may be 0 bit (e.g., the DCI field (e.g., PL offset field) is absent). In some implementations, bit field index 0 or bit index 1 of the DCI field (e.g., PL offset field) may indicate that the random access procedure initiated by the PDCCH order is associated with a regular TRP (e.g., the TRP transmitting the PDCCH order to the UE). In some implementations, bit field index 0 or 1 of the DCI field (e.g., PL offset field) may indicate that the random access procedure initiated by the PDCCH order is associated with an UL TRP (e.g., the TRP different from the TRP transmitting the PDCCH order to the UE).

[0095] In some implementations, if the DCI field indicates that the random access procedure initiated by the PDCCH order is associated with an UL TRP (e.g., the TRP different from the TRP transmitting the PDCCH order to the UE), the UE may determine the transmission power of the PRACH transmission towards the UL TRP based on the configured pathloss offset value. In some implementations, if the random access procedure initiated by the PDCCH order is associated with an UL TRP (e.g., the TRP different from the TRP transmitting the PDCCH order to the UE) and the UL / SUL indicator field indicates the “non-supplementary uplink”, the UE may determine the transmission power of the PRACH transmission towards the UL TRP based on the configured pathloss offset value (e.g., the first pathloss offset). If the random access procedure initiated by the PDCCH order is associated with an UL TRP (e.g., the TRP different from the TRP transmitting the PDCCH order to the UE) and the UL / SUL indicator field indicates the “supplementary uplink”, the UE may determine the transmission power of the PRACH transmission towards the UL TRP based on the first pathloss offset and a predefined pathloss offset. In some implementations, if the random access procedure initiated by the PDCCH order is associated with an UL TRP (e.g., the TRP different from the TRP transmitting the PDCCH order to the UE) and the UL / SUL indicator field indicates the “supplementary uplink”, the UE may determine the transmission power of the PRACH transmission towards the UL TRP based on the configured pathloss offset value (e.g., the first pathloss offset). If the random access procedure initiated by the PDCCH order is associated with an UL TRP (e.g., the TRP different from the TRP transmitting the PDCCH order to the UE) and the UL / SUL indicator field indicates the “non-supplementary uplink”, the UE may determine the transmission power of the PRACH transmission towards the UL TRP based on the first pathloss offset and a predefined pathloss offset.

[0096] For example, a UE may be configured with a first pathloss offset value (e.g., in a RACH transmission). Additionally, if the UE is configured with supplementaryUplink in ServingCellConfig, the UE may be further configured with a second pathloss offset value. When the UE receives a PDCCH order initiating a random access procedure, if the UE is configured with the first pathloss offset, the PDCCH order may include a DCI field (e.g., PL offset field or PRACH association indicator field) with the size of 1 bit. If the UE is not configured with the first pathloss offset value (e.g., in a RACH configuration), the DCI field (e.g., PL offset field or PRACH association indicator field) may be 0 bit (e.g., the DCI field (e.g., PL offset field) is absent). In some implementations, bit field index 0 or 1 of the DCI field (e.g., PL offset field) may indicate that the random access procedure initiated by the PDCCH order is associated with a regular TRP (e.g., the TRP transmitting the PDCCH order to the UE). In some implementations, bit field index 0 or 1 of the DCI field (e.g., PL offset field) may indicate that the random access procedure initiated by the PDCCH order is associated with an UL TRP (e.g., the TRP different from the TRP transmitting the PDCCH order to the UE).

[0097] In some implementations, if the random access procedure initiated by the PDCCH order is associated with an UL TRP (e.g., the TRP different from the TRP transmitting the PDCCH order to the UE) and the UL / SUL indicator field indicates the “non-supplementary uplink”, the UE may determine the transmission power of the PRACH transmission towards the UL TRP based on the configured pathloss offset value (e.g., the first pathloss offset). If the random access procedure initiated by the PDCCH order is associated with an UL TRP (e.g., the TRP different from the TRP transmitting the PDCCH order to the UE) and the UL / SUL indicator field indicates the “supplementary uplink”, the UE may determine the transmission power of the PRACH transmission towards the UL TRP based on the first pathloss offset and the second pathloss offset. In some implementations, if the random access procedure initiated by the PDCCH order is associated with an UL TRP (e.g., the TRP different from the TRP transmitting the PDCCH order to the UE) and the UL / SUL indicator field indicates the “supplementary uplink”, the UE may determine the transmission power of the PRACH transmission towards the UL TRP based on the configured pathloss offset value (e.g., the first pathloss offset). If the random access procedure initiated by the PDCCH order is associated with an UL TRP (e.g., the TRP different from the TRP transmitting the PDCCH order to the UE) and the UL / SUL indicator field indicates the “non-supplementary uplink”, the UE may determine the transmission power of the PRACH transmission towards the UL TRP based on the first pathloss offset and the second pathloss offset.

[0098] For example, a UE may be configured with a pathloss offset value (e.g., in a RACH transmission). When the UE receives a PDCCH order initiating a random access procedure, if the UE is configured with pathloss offset value(s), the PDCCH order may include a DCI field (e.g., PRACH association indicator field) with the size of 1 bit. If the UE is not configured with pathloss offset value (e.g., in a RACH configuration), the DCI field (e.g., PRACH association indicator field) may be 0 bit (e.g., the DCI field is absent). It is noted that the DCI field may be used to indicate the PL-RS for the PRACH transmission. The bit field index 0 of the DCI field may be mapped to the DL RS that the DM-RS of the PDCCH order is quasi-collocated with, and the bit field index 1 of the DCI field may be mapped to the SSB indicated by the SSB index field in the PDCCH order. In addition, the bit field index 0 may indicate the UE to determine the transmission power of a PRACH transmission without a pathloss offset value, and the bit field index 1 may indicate the UE to determine the transmission power of a PRACH transmission with a pathloss offset value (e.g., included in the RACH configuration or RRC configuration).

[0099] In some implementations, a UE may be configured with a list of joint TCI states (e.g., dl-OrJointTCI-StateList) and / or a list of UL TCI states (e.g., ul-TCI-StateList) for mTRP-based UL transmission. For the asymmetric DL sTRP / UL mTRP deployment scenarios, at least one of the TCI states included in the list of joint TCI states and / or at least one of the UL TCI states included in the list of UL TCI states may be associated with a pathloss offset value. Specifically, the configuration of the at least one TCI state included in the list of joint TCI states and / or the configuration of the at least one UL TCI state included in the list of UL TCI states may include a pathloss offset value. For the UL transmission toward an UL TRP, the UE may be indicated with a joint TCI state or an UL TCI state via a DCI or RRC signaling, where the configuration of the joint TCI state or the configuration of the UL TCI state may include a pathloss offset value.

[0100] In some implementations, if a UE is informed the UL transmission (e.g., PRACH transmission) is operated on the asymmetric DL sTRP / UL mTRP deployment scenarios (e.g., at least one TCI state configuration and / or at least one UL TCI state configuration include a pathloss offset value), a UE may receive a PDCCH order initiating a random access procedure. The PDCCH order may include a DCI field indicating which TRP the PRACH transmission is associated with (e.g., regular TRP or UL TRP), or whether the transmission of the PRACH transmission is determined based on the pathloss offset value associated with the joint TCI state or UL TCI state applied for the UL transmission toward the UL TRP. It is noted that the size of the DCI field may be 0 or 1 bit.

[0101] In some implementations, if the configuration of one of the indicated UL TCI state(s) and / or joint TCI state(s) includes a pathloss offset value, the size of the DCI field may be 1 bit. Otherwise, the size of the DCI field may be 0 bit. In some implementations, if the UE is indicated to perform UL transmission for asymmetric DL sTRP / UL mTRP deployment scenarios, the size of the DCI field may be 1 bit; otherwise, the size of the DCI field may be 0 bit.

[0102] In some implementations, a UE may be configured with a list of UL TCI states. The first UL TCI state and the second UL TCI state included in the list of UL TCI states may be indicated to the UE for performing UL transmissions associated with the first SRS resource set (e.g., first TRP) and the second SRS resource set (e.g., second TRP) respectively. If the configuration of the first UL TCI state includes a pathloss offset value, the UL transmissions (e.g., PUSCH transmission, PUCCH transmission, SRS transmission, and / or PRACH transmission) associated with the first SRS resource set may be determined by the SRSs, rather than by (any) DL RSs. If the configuration of the second UL TCI state includes a pathloss offset value, the UL transmissions (e.g., PUSCH transmission, PUCCH transmission, SRS transmission, and / or PRACH transmission) associated with the second SRS resource set may be determined by the SRSs, rather than by (any) DL RSs.

[0103] In some implementations, a UE may be configured with a list of joint TCI states. The first joint TCI state and the second joint TCI state included in the list of joint TCI states may be indicated to the UE for performing UL transmissions associated with the first SRS resource set (e.g., first TRP) and the second SRS resource set (e.g., second TRP) respectively. If the configuration of the first joint TCI state includes a pathloss offset value, the UL transmissions (e.g., PUSCH transmission, PUCCH transmission, SRS transmission, and / or PRACH transmission) associated with the first SRS resource set may be determined by the SRSs, rather than by (any) DL RSs. If the configuration of the second joint TCI state includes a pathloss offset value, the UL transmissions (e.g., PUSCH transmission, PUCCH transmission, SRS transmission, and / or PRACH transmission) associated with the second SRS resource set may be determined by the SRSs, rather than by (any) DL RSs. It is noted that if the configuration of a joint TCI state includes a pathloss offset value, the reference signal of the joint TCI state may be SRS. Specifically, if the configuration of a joint TCI state includes a pathloss offset value, except for CSI-RS and SSB, the SRS may be an option for the reference choice of the joint TCI state.

[0104] In some implementations, a UE may be configured with a list of UL TCI states and a list of joint TCI states. The UL TCI state included in the list of UL TCI states and the joint TCI state included in the list of joint TCI states may be indicated to the UE for performing UL transmissions associated with the first SRS resource set (e.g., first TRP) and the second SRS resource set (e.g., second TRP) respectively. If the configuration of the UL TCI state includes a pathloss offset value, and the UL TCI state is indicated to the UE for the UL transmission associated with the first SRS resource set, the UL transmissions (e.g., PUSCH transmission, PUCCH transmission, SRS transmission, and / or PRACH transmission) associated with the first SRS resource set may be determined by the SRSs, rather than by (any) DL RSs. If the configuration of the joint TCI state includes a pathloss offset value, and the joint TCI state is indicated to the UE for the UL transmission associated with the first SRS resource set, the UL transmissions (e.g., PUSCH transmission, PUCCH transmission, SRS transmission, and / or PRACH transmission) associated with the first SRS resource set may be determined by the SRSs, rather than by (any) DL RSs. It is noted that if the configuration of a joint TCI state includes a pathloss offset value, the reference signal of the joint TCI state may be SRS. Specifically, if the configuration of a joint TCI state includes a pathloss offset value, except for CSI-RS and SSB, the SRS may be an option for the reference choice of the joint TCI state.

[0105] In some implementations, a UE may be indicated a joint TCI state or UL TCI state used to perform UL transmissions (e.g., PRACH transmission, PUSCH transmission, PUCCH transmission, or SRS transmission) toward an UL TRP. In some implementations, the indicated joint TCI state or the indicated UL TCI state may be indicated to the UE via RRC signaling, MAC CE, and / or DCI. In some implementations, the indicated joint TCI state or the indicated UL TCI state may be the joint TCI state or UL TCI state used to perform the latest UL transmission toward the UL TRP.

[0106] In some implementations, for the case where the configuration of one of the indicated UL TCI state(s) and / or joint TCI state(s) includes a pathloss offset value, the UE may receive a PDCCH order initiating a random access procedure. The PDCCH order may include a DCI field indicating at least one of the following (a), (b), and (c).

[0107] (a) The random access procedure initiated by the PDCCH order is associated with the regular TRP (e.g., the TRP transmitting the PDCCH order or the TRP associated with the second SRS resource set) or the UL TRP (e.g., the TRP different from the TRP transmitting the PDCCH order or the TRP associated with the first SRS resource set).

[0108] For example, if the bit field index indicates ‘0’, the random access procedure initiated by the PDCCH order may be associated with the regular TRP. If the bit field index indicates ‘1’, the random access procedure initiated by the PDCCH order may be associated with the UL TRP. For another example, if the bit field index indicates ‘1’, the random access procedure initiated by the PDCCH order may be associated with the regular TRP. If the bit field index indicates ‘0’, the random access procedure initiated by the PDCCH order may be associated with the UL TRP. When the DCI field indicates the random access procedure initiated by the PDCCH order is associated with the UL TRP, the UE may determine the transmission power of a preamble (or a PRACH) with a pathloss offset value. In some implementations, the pathloss offset value may be associated with the joint / UL TCI state used to perform the latest joint / UL transmission toward the UL TRP or the latest UL transmission associated with the first SRS resource set before the UE receives the PDCCH order.

[0109] In some implementations, if the DCI field indicates the random access procedure initiated by the PDCCH order is associated with the UL TRP and the UL / SUL indicator field indicates the “non-supplementary uplink”, the UE may determine the transmission power of a preamble (or a PRACH) with a first pathloss offset value and a predefined pathloss offset value. It is noted that the first pathloss offset value may be associated with the joint / UL TCI state used to perform the latest joint / UL transmission toward the UL TRP or the latest UL transmission associated with the first SRS resource set before the UE receives the PDCCH order.

[0110] In some implementations, if the DCI field indicates the random access procedure initiated by the PDCCH order is associated with the UL TRP and the UL / SUL indicator field indicates the “supplementary uplink”, the UE may determine the transmission power of a preamble (or a PRACH) with a first pathloss offset value and a predefined pathloss offset value. It is noted that the first pathloss offset value may be associated with the joint / UL TCI state used to perform the latest joint / UL transmission toward the UL TRP or the latest UL transmission associated with the first SRS resource set before the UE receives the PDCCH order.

[0111] In some implementations, if the UE is configured with supplementaryUplink in ServingCellConfig, the UE may be further configured with a second pathloss offset value. In some implementations, if the DCI field indicates the random access procedure initiated by the PDCCH order is associated with the UL TRP and the UL / SUL indicator field indicates the “non-supplementary uplink”, the UE may determine the transmission power of a preamble (or a PRACH) with a first pathloss offset value and the second pathloss offset value. In some implementations, the first pathloss offset value may be associated with the joint / UL TCI state used to perform the latest joint / UL transmission toward the UL TRP or the latest UL transmission associated with the first SRS resource set before the UE receives the PDCCH order. In some implementations, if the DCI field indicates the random access procedure initiated by the PDCCH order is associated with the UL TRP and the UL / SUL indicator field indicates the “supplementary uplink”, the UE may determine the transmission power of a preamble (or a PRACH) with a first pathloss offset value. In some implementations, the first pathloss offset value may be associated with the joint / UL TCI state used to perform the latest joint / UL transmission toward the UL TRP or the latest UL transmission associated with the first SRS resource set before the UE receives the PDCCH order.

[0112] In some implementations, if the UE is configured with supplementaryUplink in ServingCellConfig, the UE may be further configured with a second pathloss offset value. In some implementations, if the DCI field indicates the random access procedure initiated by the PDCCH order is associated with the UL TRP and the UL / SUL indicator field indicates the “supplementary uplink”, the UE may determine the transmission power of a preamble (or a PRACH) with a first pathloss offset value and the second pathloss offset value. In some implementations, the first pathloss offset value may be associated with the joint / UL TCI state used to perform the latest joint / UL transmission toward the UL TRP or the latest UL transmission associated with the first SRS resource set before the UE receives the PDCCH order. In some implementations, if the DCI field indicates the random access procedure initiated by the PDCCH order is associated with the UL TRP and the UL / SUL indicator field indicates the “non-supplementary uplink”, the UE may determine the transmission power of a preamble (or a PRACH) with a first pathloss offset value. In some implementations, the first pathloss offset value may be associated with the joint / UL TCI state used to perform the latest joint / UL transmission toward the UL TRP or the latest UL transmission associated with the first SRS resource set before the UE receives the PDCCH order.

[0113] In some implementations, if a UE receives a PDCCH order indicating the PRACH transmission is associated with an UL TRP which is associated with a first SRS resource set, the UE may determine pathloss used to calculate the transmission power of the PRACH based on the PL RS transmitted by the regular TRP and the pathloss offset configured in the configuration of the joint / UL TCI state used to perform the latest joint / UL transmission toward the UL TRP or the latest UL transmission associated with the first SRS resource set before the UE receives the PDCCH order. It is noted that the PL RS transmitted by the regular TRP may be SSB indicated by the SSB index field included in the PDCCH order, the DL RS that the DM-RS of the PDCCH order is quasi-colocated with, or the PL RS configured in the first SRS resource set.

[0114] (b) The PL-RS for the PRACH transmission and / or whether the transmission power of the PRACH transmission is based on a pathloss offset value or not.

[0115] For example, the bit field index 0 of the DCI field may be mapped to the DL RS that the DM-RS of the PDCCH order is quasi-collocated with, and the bit field index 1 of the DCI field may be mapped to the SSB indicated by the SSB index field in the PDCCH order. In addition, the bit field index 0 may indicate the UE to determine the transmission power of a PRACH transmission without a pathloss offset value. In some implementations, the bit field index 1 may indicate the UE to determine the transmission power of a PRACH transmission with a pathloss offset value included in the configuration of the indicated joint / UL TCI state used for the latest UL transmission associated with the UL TRP (or the first SRS resource set) if any UL transmissions associated with the UL TRP (or the first SRS resource set) have occurred before the UE receives the PDCCH order. If no UL transmissions associated with the UL TRP have occurred before the UE receives the PDCCH order, a default value may be applied with the indicated pathloss offset value. It is noted that the default value may be configured by RRC signaling or a predefined value. In some implementations, the bit field index 1 may indicate the UE to determine the transmission power of a PRACH transmission with a pathloss offset value included in the configuration of the joint / UL TCI state configured to the UE to perform PRACH transmission toward an UL TRP. It is noted that the configured joint / UL TCI state may be configured via RRC signaling (or PRACH related configuration).

[0116] (c) Whether the transmission power of a PRACH transmission is determined based on a pathloss offset value or not. For example, the bit field index 0 of the DCI field may indicate a UE to determine the transmission power of the PRACH transmission without a pathloss offset value, and the bit field index 1 of the DCI field may indicate the UE to determine the transmission power of the PRACH transmission with a pathloss offset value (e.g., included in the configuration of the indicated UL TCI state used for the latest UL transmission associated with the UL TRP (or the first SRS resource set)). For another example, the bit field index 0 of the DCI field may indicate a UE to determine the transmission power of the PRACH transmission with a pathloss offset value (e.g., included in the configuration of the indicated UL TCI state used for the latest UL transmission associated with the UL TRP (or the first SRS resource set)), and the bit field index 1 of the DCI field may indicate the UE to determine the transmission power of the PRACH transmission without a pathloss offset value.

[0117] In some implementations, a UE may determine a transmission power for a PRACH (e.g., denoted as PPRACH, b, f, c(i)) on active UL BWP b of carrier f of cell c based on DL RS for cell c in transmission occasion i, as the following equation: PPRACH, b, f, c(i) = min{PCMAX, f, c(i), PPRACH, target, f, c+ PLb, f, c+ PLoffset} [dBm] , where each of the parameters may be defined in 3GPP TS38.213 v17.13.0. For example, PCMAX, f, c(i) may be the UE configured maximum output power for carrier f of cell c within transmission occasion i, PPRACH, target, f, cmay be the PRACH target reception power PREAMBLE_RECEIVED_TARGET_POWER provided by higher layer for the active UL BWP b of carrier f of cell c, PLb, f, cmay be a pathloss for the active UL BWP b of carrier f based on DL RS for cell c, and PLoffsetmay be a compensation value used for transmission power determination of the PRACH associated with the UL TRP.

[0118] In some implementations, to calculate PLb, f, cfor determining the transmission power of a PRACH, a UE may determine the DL RS based on at least one of the following (a), (b), and (c).

[0119] (a) DL RS that the DM-RS of the PDCCH order is quasi-collocated with.

[0120] In some implementations, a DCI field included in a PDCCH order may be used to determine a DL RS for pathloss (e.g., PLb, f, c) calculation. For example, if the bit field of the DCI field indicates ‘0’, the pathloss may be calculated based on the DL RS that the DM-RS of the PDCCH order is quasi-collocated with. For another example, if the bit field of the DCI field indicates other values except for ‘0’, the pathloss may be calculated based on the DL RS that the DM-RS of the PDCCH order is quasi-collocated with. It is noted that the size of the DCI field may be 0 if no pathloss offset value(s) is included in the RACH configuration, the configuration of any joint TCI states and / or UL TCI states does not include a pathloss offset value, and / or the configuration of indicated joint TCI state(s) and / or UL TCI state(s) used for UL transmission does not include a pathloss offset value.

[0121] (b) DL RS associated with a reference signal (e.g., SRS) used to provide the spatial relation of an indicated UL TCI state and / or an indicated joint TCI state, where the indicated UL TCI state and / or the indicated joint TCI state is applied to the latest UL transmission (associated with an UL TRP).

[0122] In some implementations, a DCI field included in a PDCCH order may be used to determine a DL RS for pathloss (e.g., PLb, f, c) calculation. For example, if the bit field of the DCI field indicates ‘0’, the pathloss may be calculated based on the DL RS associated with a reference signal (e.g., SRS) used to provide the spatial relation of an indicated UL TCI state and / or an indicated joint TCI state, where the indicated UL TCI state and / or the indicated joint TCI state is applied to the latest UL transmission (associated with an UL TRP). For another example, if the bit field of the DCI field indicates other values except for ‘0’, the pathloss may be calculated based on DL RS associated with a reference signal (e.g., SRS) used to provide the spatial relation of an indicated UL TCI state and / or an indicated joint TCI state, where the indicated UL TCI state and / or the indicated joint TCI state is applied to the latest UL transmission (associated with an UL TRP). It is noted that the size of the DCI field may be 0 if no pathloss offset value(s) is included in the RACH configuration, the configuration of any joint TCI states and / or UL TCI states does not include a pathloss offset value, and / or the configuration of indicated joint TCI state(s) and / or UL TCI state(s) used for UL transmission does not include a pathloss offset value.

[0123] (c) SSB indicated in the SS / PBCH index field of a PDCCH order.

[0124] In some implementations, a DCI field included in a PDCCH order may be used to determine a DL RS for pathloss (e.g., PLb, f, c) calculation. For example, if the bit field of the DCI field indicates ‘0’, the pathloss may be calculated based on the SSB indicated in the SS / PBCH index field of a PDCCH order. For another example, if the bit field of the DCI field indicates other values except for ‘0’, the pathloss may be calculated based on the SSB indicated in the SS / PBCH index field of a PDCCH order. It is noted that the size of the DCI field may be 0 if no pathloss offset value(s) is included in the RACH configuration, the configuration of any joint TCI states and / or UL TCI states does not include a pathloss offset value, and / or the configuration of indicated joint TCI state(s) and / or UL TCI state(s) used for UL transmission does not include a pathloss offset value.

[0125] In some implementations, a UE may be indicated a pathloss offset value (e.g., PLoffset) for determining a transmission power for a PRACH via a DCI field included in a PDCCH order. If a RACH configuration does not include any pathloss offset value(s), the UE may not apply a pathloss offset value (e.g., PLoffset) for determining the transmission power of the PRACH. Specifically, the UE may determine the transmission power of the PRACH based on a pathloss offset value (e.g., PLoffset) if at least one of the following conditions is satisfied: - A RACH configuration includes at least one pathloss offset value; - The configuration of the indicated UL TCI state and / or joint TCI state applied for the latest UL transmission (toward an UL TRP) includes a pathloss offset value; - The configuration of any one of the UL TCI states included in a list of UL TCI states includes a pathloss offset value; - The configuration of any one of the joint TCI states included in a list of joint TCI states includes a pathloss offset value; - A DCI field included in a PDCCH order initiating a random access procedure indicates that the UE transmits a preamble to the TRP different from the TRP transmitting the PDCCH order; - A DCI field included in a PDCCH order initiating a random access procedure indicates that the UE transmits a preamble to an UL TRP; - A DCI field included in a PDCCH order initiating a random access procedure indicates a pathloss offset value among a set of pathloss offset values included in the RACH configuration; and - A DCI field included in a PDCCH order initiating a random access procedure indicates an UL TCI state and / or a joint TCI state whose configuration includes a pathloss offset value.

[0126] Regarding power headroom report (PHR), two types of PHR are identified: Type 1 PHR for PUSCH transmission and Type 3 PHR for SRS.

[0127] In some implementations, for a Type 1 PHR, if a UE determines that a Type 1 PHR for an activated serving cell is based on an actual PUSCH transmission associated with a joint / UL TCI state whose configuration includes a pathloss offset value, the UE may calculate the Type 1 PHR as: PHtype1, b, f, c(i, j, qd, l) = PCMAX, f, c(i) - {P0_PUSCH, b, f, c(j) + 10 log10(2μ* MPUSCHRB, b, f, c(i)) + αb, f, c(i) * (PLb, f, c(qd) - δPL OFFSET) + ΔTF, b, f, c(i) + fb, f, c(i, l)}[dB] , where each of the parameters may be defined in 3GPP TS38.213 v17.13.0. For example, PCMAX, f, c(i) may be the UE configured maximum output power for carrier f of serving cell c in PUSCH transmission occasion i, P0_PUSCH, b, f, c(j) may be a parameter composed of the sum of a component PO_NOMINAL, PUSCH, f, c(j) and a component PO_UE__PUSCH, b, f, c(j), where j ∈ {0, 1, …, J-1}, MPUSCHRB, b, f, c(i) may be the bandwidth of the PUSCH resource assignment expressed in number of resource blocks for PUSCH transmission occasion i on active UL BWP b of carrier f of serving cell c and μmay be a SCS configuration, PLb, f, c(qd) may be a downlink pathloss estimate in dB calculated by the UE using reference signal (RS) index qdfor the active DL BWP of carrier f of serving cell c, ΔTF, b, f, c(i) = 10log10((2BPRE*Ks- 1) * βPUSCHoffset) for Ks = 1.25 and ΔTF, b, f, c(i) = 0 for Ks = 0, where Ks may be provided by deltaMCS for each UL BWP b of each carrier f and serving cell c; δPUSCH, b, f, c(i, l) may be a TPC command value included in a DCI format that schedules the PUSCH transmission occasion i on active UL BWP b of carrier f of serving cell c or jointly coded with other TPC commands in a DCI format 2_2 with CRC scrambled by TPC-PUSCH-RNTI; fb, f, c(i, l) = fb, f, c(i-i0, l) + ΣC(Di)-1m=0δPUSCH, b, f, c(m, l) may be the PUSCH power control adjustment state l for active UL BWP b of carrier f of serving cell c and PUSCH transmission occasion i if the UE is not provided with tpc-Accumulation.

[0128] In some implementations, if a UE determines that a Type 1 PHR for an activated serving cell is based on an actual PUSCH transmission and the actual PUSCH transmission is associated with a joint / UL TCI state whose configuration includes a pathloss offset value, the UE may calculate the Type 1 PHR with the pathloss offset value (e.g., δPL OFFSET); otherwise, the UE may calculate the Type 1 PHR without the pathloss offset value.

[0129] In some implementations, for a Type 1 PHR, if a UE determines that a Type 1 PHR for an activated serving cell is based on a reference PUSCH transmission, the UE may calculate the Type 1 PHR as: PHtype1, b, f, c(i, j, qd, l) = P~CMAX, f, c(i) - {P0_PUSCH, b, f, c(j) + αb, f, c(i) * (PLb, f, c(qd) - δPL OFFSET) + fb, f, c(i, l)}[dB] , where each of the parameters may be defined in 3GPP TS38.213 v17.13.0, which are not repeated herein.

[0130] It is noted that the pathloss offset value (e.g., δPL OFFSET) may exist when the DL RS (or PL RS) indicated by pusch-PathlossReferenceRS-Id = 0 is associated with the joint / UL TCI state whose configuration includes a pathloss offset value. Additionally, the pathloss offset value (e.g., δPL OFFSET) may be determined by the pathloss offset value included in the configuration of the joint / UL TCI state associated with the DL RS (or PL RS) indicated by pusch-PathlossReferenceRS-Id = 0. If the DL RS (or PL RS) indicated by pusch-PathlossReferenceRS-Id = 0 is associated with the joint / UL TCI state whose configuration does not include a pathloss offset value, the pathloss offset value (e.g., δPL OFFSET) may not exist.

[0131] In some implementations, for Type 1 PHR, if a UE determines that a Type 1 PHR for an activated serving cell is based on a reference PUSCH transmission, the UE may not calculate the Type 1 PHR with a pathloss offset value.

[0132] In some implementations, for a Type 3 PHR, if a UE determines that a Type 3 PHR for an activated serving cell is based on an actual SRS transmission associated with a joint / UL TCI state whose configuration includes a pathloss offset value, the UE may calculate the Type 3 PHR as: PHtype3, b, f, c(i, qs) = PCMAX, f, c(i) - {P0_SRS, b, f, c(qs) + 10 log10(2μ* MSRS, b, f, c(i)) + αSRS, b, f, c(qs) * (PLb, f, c(qd) - δPL OFFSET) + hb, f, c(i)}[dB] , where each of the parameters may be defined in 3GPP TS38.213 v17.13.0. For example, PCMAX, f, c(i) may be the UE configured maximum output power; P0_SRS, b, f, c(qs) may be provided by p0 for active UL BWP b of carrier f of serving cell c and SRS resource set qsprovided by SRS-ResourceSet and SRS-ResourceSetId; MSRS, b, f, c(i) may be an SRS bandwidth expressed in number of resource blocks for SRS transmission occasion i on active UL BWP b of carrier f of serving cell c and μ may be a SCS configuration; αSRS, b, f, c(qs) may be provided by alpha for active UL BWP b of carrier f of serving cell c and SRS resource set qs; PLb, f, c(qd) may be a downlink pathloss estimate in dB calculated by the UE using RS resource index qdfor the active DL BWP of serving cell c and SRS resource set qs. The RS resource index qdmay be provided by pathlossReferenceRS associated with the SRS resource set qsand may be either an ssb-Index providing a SS / PBCH block index or a csi-RS-Index providing a CSI-RS resource index; hb, f, c(i) = hb, f, c(i-i0) + ΣC(Si)-1m=0δSRS, b, f, c(m) if the UE is not configured for PUSCH transmissions on active UL BWP b of carrier f of serving cell c, or if srs-PowerControlAdjustmentStates indicates separate power control adjustment states between SRS transmissions and PUSCH transmissions, and if tpc-Accumulation is not provided.

[0133] In some implementations, if a UE determines that a Type 3 PHR for an activated serving cell is based on an actual SRS transmission and the actual SRS transmission is associated with a joint / UL TCI state whose configuration includes a pathloss offset value, the UE may calculate the Type 3 PHR with the pathloss offset value (e.g., δPL OFFSET); otherwise, the UE may calculate the Type 3 PHR without the pathloss offset value. It is noted that the actual SRS transmission may be associated with the SRS resource set corresponding to an UL TRP if the actual SRS transmission is associated with a joint / UL TCI state whose configuration includes a pathloss offset value.

[0134] In some implementations, for a Type 3 PHR, if a UE determines that a Type 3 PHR for an activated serving cell is based on a reference SRS transmission, the UE may calculate the Type 3 PHR as: PHtype1, b, f, c(i, j, qd, l) =P~CMAX, f, c(i) - {P0_SRS, b, f, c(qs) + αSRS, b, f, c(qs) * PLb, f, c(qd) + hb, f, c(i)}[dB], where each of the parameters may be defined in 3GPP TS38.213 v17.13.0, which are not repeated herein.

[0135] In some implementations, the pathloss offset value (e.g., δPL OFFSET) may exist when the DL RS (or PL RS) indicated by SRS-ResourcesetId = 0 is associated with the joint / UL TCI state whose configuration includes a pathloss offset value. Additionally, the pathloss offset value (e.g., δPL OFFSET) may be determined by the pathloss offset value included in the configuration of the joint / UL TCI state associated with the DL RS (or PL RS) indicated by SRS-ResourcesetId = 0. If the DL RS (or PL RS) indicated by SRS-ResourcesetId = 0 is associated with the joint / UL TCI state whose configuration does not include a pathloss offset value, the pathloss offset value (e.g., δPL OFFSET) may not exist.

[0136] In some implementations, the pathloss offset value (e.g., δPL OFFSET) may exist when the SRS resource set indicated by SRS-ResourcesetId = 0 is associated with the joint / UL TCI state whose configuration includes a pathloss offset value. Additionally, the pathloss offset value (e.g., δPL OFFSET) may be determined by the pathloss offset value included in the configuration of the joint / UL TCI state associated with the SRS resource set indicated by SRS-ResourcesetId = 0. If the SRS resource set indicated by SRS-ResourcesetId = 0 is associated with the joint / UL TCI state whose configuration does not include a pathloss offset value, the pathloss offset value (e.g., δPL OFFSET) may not exist.

[0137] In some implementations, for Type 3 PH, if a UE determines that a Type 3 PHR for an activated serving cell is based on a reference SRS transmission, the UE may not calculate the Type 3 PHR with a pathloss offset value.

[0138] FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a method / process 300 performed by a UE for supporting an asymmetric DL / UL TRP deployment, according to an example implementation of the present disclosure.

[0139] In the action 302, the process 300 may start by receiving, from a BS, a TCI state which may be associated with a pathloss offset value.

[0140] In some implementations, the UE may receive the TCI state from a regular TRP which supports DL transmissions, where the regular TRP may be a component of the BS. In some implementations, the TCI state may be one of a joint TCI state or an UL TCI state.

[0141] In some implementations, the UE may receive (e.g., via an RRC message / configuration) a TCI state list that includes multiple TCI states, in which one or more TCI states may each be associated with a respective pathloss offset value.

[0142] Referring to FIGS. 2A and 2B, the UE 20 may receive, from the first TRP 21, at least a TCI state associated with a pathloss offset value. The TCI state may be associated with the second TRP 23.

[0143] In the action 304, the process 300 may receive, from the BS, a PDCCH order including a DCI field. Specifically, the DCI field may indicate whether a determination of a transmission power of a PRACH transmission is performed by applying a pathloss offset value. More specifically, in a case that a bit field index of the DCI field is ‘0’, the pathloss offset value may not be applied for the determination of the transmission power of the PRACH transmission; otherwise (e.g., the bit field index of the DCI field is ‘1’), the pathloss offset value may be applied for the determination of the transmission power of the PRACH transmission.

[0144] In some implementations, the UE may receive the PDCCH order from a regular TRP (e.g., the same TRP as described in action 302) which supports DL transmissions.

[0145] In some implementations, the UE may receive an indication that indicates a TCI state within the received TCI state list. In some implementations, the TCI state indicated may be associated with a pathloss offset value. In some implementations, the TCI state indicated may not be associated with a pathloss offset value. The indication may be received, for example, via DCI or a MAC CE. In some implementations, the UE may receive the indication from a regular TRP (e.g., the same TRP as described in action 302) which supports DL transmissions.

[0146] In the action 306, the process 300 may determine whether a bit field index of the DCI field is 0 or 1. In response to determining that the bit field index of the DCI field is 0, the process 300 may proceed to action 308. In response to determining that the bit field index of the DCI field is 1, the process 300 may proceed to action 310.

[0147] In some implementations, the process 300 may proceed to action 308, where the process 300 may determine the transmission power of the PRACH transmission based on a DL RS which is quasi-collocated with a DM RS of the PDCCH order. Specifically, in a case that the bit field index of the DCI field in the PDCCH order is 0, the transmission power of the PRACH transmission may be determined based on a DL RS that a DM RS of the PDCCH order is quasi-collocated with.

[0148] Referring to FIG. 2B, the UE 20 may receive, from the first TRP 21 (e.g., associated with the serving cell), the PDCCH order. In a case that the bit field index of the DCI field in the PDCCH order is 0, the UE 20 may determine, based on a DL RS which is quasi-collocated with a DM RS of the PDCCH order, a transmission power of a PRACH transmission (e.g., to the second TRP 23 associated with a non-serving cell).

[0149] In some implementations, the process 300 may proceed to action 310, where the process 300 may determine the transmission power of the PRACH transmission based on a DL RS and the pathloss offset value, the DL RS associated with an RS used to provide a spatial relation of the TCI state associated with the pathloss offset value. Specifically, in a case that the bit field index of the DCI field in the PDCCH order is 1, the transmission power of the PRACH transmission may be determined based on a DL RS associated with an RS (e.g., sounding reference signal (SRS)) used to provide a spatial relation of the TCI state associated with the pathloss offset value, and based on the pathloss offset value.

[0150] Referring to FIG. 2A, the UE 20 may receive, from the first TRP 21, the PDCCH order. In a case that the bit field index of the DCI field in the PDCCH order is 1, the UE 20 may determine a transmission power of a PRACH transmission (e.g., to the second TRP 23) based on a DL RS associated with an RS used to provide a spatial relation of the TCI state (e.g., associated with the second TRP 23) associated with the pathloss offset value, and based on the pathloss offset value.

[0151] In the action 312, the process 300 may perform the PRACH transmission based on the transmission power (calculated in either action 308 or 310,) and the process 300 may then end.

[0152] FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a node 400 for wireless communication in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 4, a node 400 may include a transceiver 420, a processor 428, a memory 434, one or more presentation components 438, and at least one antenna 436. The node 400 may also include a radio frequency (RF) spectrum band module, a BS communications module, a network communications module, and a system communications management module, Input / Output (I / O) ports, I / O components, and a power supply (not illustrated in FIG. 4).

[0153] Each of the components may directly or indirectly communicate with each other over one or more buses 440. The node 400 may be a UE or a BS that performs various functions disclosed with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.

[0154] The transceiver 420 has a transmitter 422 (e.g., transmitting / transmission circuitry) and a receiver 424 (e.g., receiving / reception circuitry) and may be configured to transmit and / or receive time and / or frequency resource partitioning information. The transceiver 420 may be configured to transmit in different types of subframes and slots including, but not limited to, usable, non-usable, and flexibly usable subframes and slot formats. The transceiver 420 may be configured to receive data and control channels.

[0155] The node 400 may include a variety of computer-readable media. Computer-readable media may be any available media that may be accessed by the node 400 and include volatile (and / or non-volatile) media and removable (and / or non-removable) media.

[0156] The computer-readable media may include computer-storage media and communication media. Computer-storage media may include both volatile (and / or non-volatile media), and removable (and / or non-removable) media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or data.

[0157] Computer-storage media may include RAM, ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory (or other memory technology), CD-ROM, Digital Versatile Disks (DVD) (or other optical disk storage), magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage (or other magnetic storage devices), etc. Computer-storage media may not include a propagated data signal. Communication media may typically embody computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated data signal, such as a carrier wave, or other transport mechanisms and include any information delivery media.

[0158] The term “modulated data signal” may mean a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal. Communication media may include wired media, such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media, such as acoustic, RF, infrared, and other wireless media. Combinations of any of the above listed components should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

[0159] The memory 434 may include computer-storage media in the form of volatile and / or non-volatile memory. The memory 434 may be removable, non-removable, or a combination thereof. Example memory may include solid-state memory, hard drives, optical-disc drives, etc. As illustrated in FIG. 4, the memory 434 may store a computer-readable and / or computer-executable instructions 432 (e.g., software codes) that are configured to, when executed, cause the processor 428 to perform various functions disclosed herein, for example, with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. Alternatively, the instructions 432 may not be directly executable by the processor 428 but may be configured to cause the node 400 (e.g., when compiled and executed) to perform various functions disclosed herein.

[0160] The processor 428 (e.g., having processing circuitry) may include an intelligent hardware device, e.g., a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a microcontroller, an ASIC, etc. The processor 428 may include memory. The processor 428 may process the data 430 and the instructions 432 received from the memory 434, and information transmitted and received via the transceiver 420, the baseband communications module, and / or the network communications module. The processor 428 may also process information to send to the transceiver 420 for transmission via the antenna 436 to the network communications module for transmission to a CN.

[0161] One or more presentation components 438 may present data indications to a person or another device. Examples of presentation components 438 may include a display device, a speaker, a printing component, a vibrating component, etc.

[0162] In view of the present disclosure, it is obvious that various techniques may be used for implementing the disclosed concepts without departing from the scope of those concepts. Moreover, while the concepts have been disclosed with specific reference to certain implementations, a person of ordinary skill in the art may recognize that changes may be made in form and detail without departing from the scope of those concepts. As such, the disclosed implementations are to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive. It should also be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the particular implementations disclosed and many rearrangements, modifications, and substitutions are possible without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. A User Equipment (UE) for supporting an asymmetric Downlink (DL) and Uplink (UL) Transmit receive Point (TRP) deployment, the UE comprising: 　　　　at least one processor; and 　　　　at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium coupled to the at least one processor and storing one or more computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the UE to: 　　　　　　　　receive, from a Base Station (BS), a Transmission Configuration Indication (TCI) state, the TCI state associated with a pathloss offset value; 　　　　　　　　receive, from the BS, a Physical Downlink Control CHannel (PDCCH) order, the PDCCH order comprising a Downlink Control Information (DCI) field; and 　　　　　　　　determine a transmission power of a Physical Random Access CHannel (PRACH) transmission based on the DCI field, wherein: 　　　　the DCI field indicates whether the pathloss offset value is applied for a determination of the transmission power of the PRACH transmission, 　　　　in a case that a bit field index of the DCI field is 0, the pathloss offset value is not applied for the determination of the transmission power of the PRACH transmission, and 　　　　in a case that the bit field index of the DCI field is 1, the pathloss offset value is applied for the determination of the transmission power of the PRACH transmission.

2. The UE of claim 1, wherein in a case that a bit field index of the DCI field is 0, the one or more computer-executable instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the UE to: 　　　　determine the transmission power of the PRACH transmission based on a DL Reference Signal (RS), the DL RS being an DL RS that a demodulation (DM) RS of the PDCCH order is quasi-collocated with.

3. The UE of claim 1, wherein in a case that a bit field index of the DCI field is 1, the one or more computer-executable instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the UE to: 　　　　determine the transmission power of the PRACH transmission based on a DL Reference Signal (RS) and the pathloss offset value, the DL RS associated with an RS used to provide a spatial relation of the TCI state associated with the pathloss offset value.

4. The UE of claim 3, wherein the RS used to provide the spatial relation of the TCI state associated with the pathloss offset value is a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS).

5. The UE of claim 1, wherein the one or more computer-executable instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the UE to: 　　　　perform the PRACH transmission based on the transmission power.

6. The UE of claim 1, wherein the TCI state is one of a joint TCI state or an UL TCI state.

7. The UE of claim 1, wherein the one or more computer-executable instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the UE to: 　　　　receive, from the BS, an indication that indicates the TCI state associated with the pathloss offset value.

8. A Base Station (BS) for supporting an asymmetric Downlink (DL) and Uplink (UL) Transmit receive Point (TRP) deployment, the BS comprising: 　　　　at least one processor; and 　　　　at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium coupled to the at least one processor and storing one or more computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the BS to: 　　　　　　　　transmit, to a User Equipment (UE), a Transmission Configuration Indication (TCI) state, the TCI state associated with a pathloss offset value; and 　　　　　　　　transmit, to the UE, a Physical Downlink Control CHannel (PDCCH) order, the PDCCH order comprising a Downlink Control Information (DCI) field, wherein: 　　　　the PDCCH order causes the UE to determine a transmission power of a Physical Random Access CHannel (PRACH) transmission based on the DCI field, 　　　　the DCI field indicates whether the pathloss offset value is applied for a determination of the transmission power, 　　　　in a case that a bit field index of the DCI field is 0, the pathloss offset value is not applied for the determination of the transmission power, and 　　　　in a case that the bit field index of the DCI field is 1, the pathloss offset value is applied for the determination of the transmission power.

9. The BS of claim 8, wherein in a case that a bit field index of the DCI field is 0, the PDCCH order further causes the UE to: 　　　　determine the transmission power of the PRACH transmission based on a DL Reference Signal (RS), the DL RS being an DL RS that a demodulation (DM) RS of the PDCCH order is quasi-collocated with.

10. The BS of claim 8, wherein in a case that a bit field index of the DCI field is 1, the PDCCH order further causes the UE to: 　　　　determine the transmission power of the PRACH transmission based on a DL Reference Signal (RS) and the pathloss offset value, the DL RS associated with an RS used to provide a spatial relation of the TCI state associated with the pathloss offset value.

11. The BS of claim 10, wherein the RS used to provide the spatial relation of the TCI state associated with the pathloss offset value is a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS).

12. The BS of claim 8, wherein the PDCCH order further causes the UE to: 　　　　perform the PRACH transmission based on the transmission power.

13. The BS of claim 8, wherein the TCI state is one of a joint TCI state or an UL TCI state.

14. The BS of claim 8, wherein the one or more computer-executable instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the BS to: 　　　　transmit, to the UE, an indication that indicates the TCI state associated with the pathloss offset value.

15. A method performed by a User Equipment (UE) for supporting an asymmetric Downlink (DL) and Uplink (UL) Transmit receive Point (TRP) deployment, the method comprising: 　　　　receiving, from a Base Station (BS), a Transmission Configuration Indication (TCI) state, the TCI state associated with a pathloss offset value; 　　　　receiving, from the BS, a Physical Downlink Control CHannel (PDCCH) order, the PDCCH order comprising a Downlink Control Information (DCI) field; and 　　　　determining a transmission power of a Physical Random Access CHannel (PRACH) transmission based on the DCI field, wherein: 　　　　the DCI field indicates whether the pathloss offset value is applied for a determination of the transmission power of the PRACH transmission, 　　　　in a case that a bit field index of the DCI field is 0, the pathloss offset value is not applied for the determination of the transmission power of the PRACH transmission, and 　　　　in a case that the bit field index of the DCI field is 1, the pathloss offset value is applied for the determination of the transmission power of the PRACH transmission.

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