Methods and nodes on enhanced prach association indicator for asymmetric mtrp operation

Abstract

There is provided a method performed by a wireless device configured for communications with a first Transmit and Receive Point (TRP) and a second TRP. The method comprises: receiving a configuration for a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) order, from the first TRP; receiving the PDCCH order, from the first TRP, wherein the PDCCH order comprises an indication that a transmission is either destined to the first TRP or the second TRP, wherein the second TRP is an uplink only TRP, which does not transmit downlink transmissions; and sending a transmission to one of the first TRP and second TRP based on the indication in the received PDCCH. There is also provided a wireless device for implementing this method.

Description

Methods and nodes on enhanced PRACH association indicator for asymmetric mTRP operationRELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims the benefits of priority of US 63 / 702,384, entitled “Method on enhanced PRACH association indicator for asymmetric mTRP operation" and filed at the USPTO on October 2, 2024, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] This application relates to communication networks and more particularly to methods and nodes for Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) transmissions in asymmetric multiple Transmission and Reception Point (mTRP) operation.BACKGROUND

[0003] Uplink power control in New Radio (NR)

[0004] The gNodeB (gNB) may consist of a single TRP or multiple TRPs. In case of multiple TRPs, a User Equipment (UE) can be scheduled with downlink (DL) transmissions from one or more of the TRPs and uplink (UL) data transmission to one or more of the TRPs, either one TRP at a time or simultaneously.

[0005] UL power control in NR consists of two parts, i.e., open-loop power control and closed-loop power control. Open-loop power control is used to set the uplink transmit power based on a few factors such as pathloss estimation between the UE and a TRP in a serving cell, the target receive power, channel / signal bandwidth, modulation and coding scheme (MCS), fractional power control factor, etc.

[0006] Closed-loop power control is based on power adjustments signaled in power control commands received from the gNB. The power control commands are typically determined based on the difference between the actual received power and a desired received power at the gNB. Up to two closed power control loops can be configured in NR for each UL channel or signal. Either cumulative or non-cumulative closed-loop power adjustments are supported in NR. A closed loop adjustment at a given time is also referred to as a power control adjustment state.

[0007] A DL reference signal (RS) is transmitted from each TRP, which can be used by a UE to estimate the pathloss between the UE and the TRP. Each DL RS has an associated index for identifying it. For UL transmission, power control can be performed separately for each TRP.

[0008] Quasi co-located (QCL) and Transmission Configuration indicator (TCI) states

[0009] In NR, several signals can be transmitted from different antenna ports of the same base station. These signals can have the same large-scale properties such as Doppler shift / spread,average delay spread, or average delay. These antenna ports are then said to be quasi co-located (QCL).

[0010] If the UE knows that two antenna ports are QCL with respect to a certain parameter (e.g. Doppler spread), the UE can estimate that parameter based on one of the antenna ports and apply that estimate for receiving signal on the other antenna port.

[0011] Information about what assumptions can be made regarding QCL is signaled to the UE from the network. In NR, four types of QCL relations between a transmitted source RS and transmitted target RS were defined: Type A: {Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread}, Type B: {Doppler shift, Doppler spread}, Type C: {average delay, Doppler shift}, Type D: {Spatial Rx parameter}.

[0012] QCL type D was introduced to facilitate beam management with analog beamforming and is known as spatial QCL. It is understood that if two transmitted antenna ports are spatially QCL, the UE can use the same receive (RX) beam to receive them. This is helpful for a UE using analog beamforming to receive signals, since the UE needs to adjust its RX beam in some direction prior to receiving a certain signal. If the UE knows that the signal is spatially QCL with some other signal it has received earlier, then it can use the same RX beam to receive also this signal.

[0013] In 3GPP Release (Rel)-17, a new unified TCI state framework is specified, which aims to streamline the indication of transmit / receive spatial filter (and other QCL properties) to the UE by letting a single TCI state indicate QCL properties for multiple different DL and / or UL signal s / channels.

[0014] The unified TCI state framework of Rel-17 can be Radio Resource Control (RRC) configured in one out of two modes of operation “Joint DL / UL TCI” or “Separate DL / UL TCI”. For “Joint DL / UL TCI” operation, one common Joint TCI state is used for both DL and UL signal s / channels. For “Separate DL / UL TCI” operation, one common DL-only TCI state is used for DL channel s / signals, and one common UL-only TCI state is used for UL signal s / channels.

[0015] Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) Procedure

[0016] Prior to initiation of the physical random access procedure, Layer 1 or the physical layer receives from higher layers a set of Synchronization Signal (SS) / Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) block indexes and provides to higher layers a corresponding set of Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) measurements.

[0017] The physical random access procedure is triggered upon request of a PRACH transmission by higher layers or by a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) order. A configuration by higher layers for a PRACH transmission includes the following:

[0018] - a configuration for PRACH including sequence generation and mapping to physical resources according to 3 GPP TS 38.211,

[0019] - a preamble index, a preamble Subcarrier Spacing (SCS), PRACH target receive power, a corresponding RACH radio network temporary identifier (RA-RNTI), and a PRACH resource.

[0020] A PRACH preamble is transmitted according to the PRACH configuration with a transmission power on the indicated PRACH resource.

[0021] The PRACH configuration can be cell specific or UE specific. Cell specific PRACH configuration is done via a RACH-ConfigCommon information element (IE) while UE specific PRACH configuration is done via a RACH-ConfigDedicated IE, both are described in 3GPP TS38.331.

[0022] PDCCH order initiated RACH procedure

[0023] A RACH procedure can be initiated by either the gNB or the UE. It can be contention based (CB) or contention free (CF). A RACH procedure can be initiated by a PDCCH order sent from the gNB to the UE for synchronizing the UL when the UL time alignment may have been lost. The PDCCH order is carried by DL Control Information (DCI) format 1-0 when the DCI’s cyclic redundancy check (CRC) is scrambled by a UE’s Cell RNTI (C-RNTI) and the "Frequency domain resource assignment" field of the DCI contains all ones. The PDCCH order contains the following information:

[0024] - Random Access Preamble index: 6 bits according to a higher layer parameter “ra-Preamblelndex” in Clause 5.1.2 of 3GPP TS38.321;

[0025] - SS / PBCH index: 6 bits, If the value of the "Random Access Preamble index" is not all zeros, this field indicates the SS / PBCH that shall be used to determine a RACH occasion for PRACH transmission; otherwise, this field is reserved;

[0026] - PRACH Mask index. If the value of the "Random Access Preamble index" is not all zeros, this field indicates the RACH occasion associated with the SS / PBCH indicated by "SS / PBCH index" for the PRACH transmission, according to Clause 5.1.1 of 3GPP TS38.321; otherwise, this field is reserved;

[0027] - Cell indicator - log2(C + 1)] bits indicating the cell for the corresponding PRACH transmission if the UE is configured with higher layer parameter EarlyUlSyncConfig, where C is the number of candidate cells configured with higher layer parameter EarlyUlSyncConfig,- 0 bit otherwise. The bit field index 0 of the cell indicator field is mapped to the serving cell, and other bit field indexes are mapped to the candidate cells configured with higher layer parameter EarlyUlSyncConfig according to an ascending order of a candidate identity configured by Itm-Candidaleld, with the bit field index 1 mapped to the candidate cell with the smallest candidate identity;

[0028] - PRACH association indicator - 0 or 1 bit; a. 1 bit if the UE is provided with tag-Id2, and the UE is not provided core setPool Index or is provided core setPool Index with value 0 for the first CORESETs, and is provided coresetPoolIndex with value 1 for the second CORESETs. This field indicates the PCI associated with the PRACH transmission if the UE is provided SSB-MTCAddtionalPCI. The bit field index 0 of this field is mapped to the PCI of the serving cell, and the bit field index 1 of this field is mapped to the active additional PCI. This field indicates the PL-RS for the PRACH transmission if the UE is not provided SSB-MTCAddtionalPCI. The bit field index 0 of this field is mapped to the DL RS that the DM-RS of the PDCCH order is quasi-collocated with, and the bit field index 1 of this field is mapped to the SS / PBCH indicated by the SS / PBCH index field in this DCI format. b. 0 bit otherwise.

[0029] - PRACH retransmission indicator - 0 or 1 bit: a. 1 bit if the UE is configured with higher layer parameter EarlyUlSyncConfig. This field indicates initial transmission or retransmission of PRACH according to Table 7.3.1.2.1-3 if the cell indicated by Cell indicator field is a candidate cell, and this field is reserved if the cell indicated by Cell indicator field is a serving cell but not a candidate cell. b. 0 bit otherwise.

[0030] - Reserved bits - a number of bits as determined by the following: a. (12 - E-L - Y2) bits for operation in a cell with shared spectrum channel access in frequency range 1 or when the DCI format is monitored in common search space for operation in a cell in frequency range 2-2; b. (10 - EL - E2) bits otherwise;

[0031] where,

[0032] -E- = 0 if the UE is not configured with higher layer parameter EarlyUlSyncConfig,' E-L = log2C + 1)]+1 otherwise.

[0033] -Y2= 0 if the "PRACH association indicator" field is not present in this DCI format;Y2= 1 otherwise.

[0034] If the PRACH preamble index is non-zero, a contention free random access (CFRA) procedure is triggered, in which the PRACH preamble is allocated only for the UE in a corresponding PRACH resource.

[0035] If the PRACH preamble index is zero, and CFRA PRACH resources associated with SSBs have been provided in a UE specific RACH configuration in rach-ConfigDedicated IE, the UE first selects an SSB with SS-RSRP above a configured threshold, then selects a PRACH preamble according to the selected SSB. If the PRACH preamble index is zero, and CFRA resources associated with Channel State Information (CSI)-RSs have been provided in rach- ConfigDedicated IE, the UE first selects a CSI-RS with CSI-RSRP above a configured threshold, rsrp-ThresholdCSI-RS, then selects a PRACH preamble according to the selected CSI-RS. If the PRACH preamble index is zero and the CFRA PRACH resources associated with SSB or CSI-RS are not provided, a contention-based random access (CBRA) procedure is triggered by the PDCCH order, in which the UE selects a PRACH preamble randomly from a set of PRACH preambles configured for CBRA in the serving cell. Note that in this case, the same preamble could be selected by more than one UE in a same PRACH resource and contention could occur. PDCCH order triggered CBRA is only allowed for a SpCell, i.e., a primary cell in either a master cell group (MCG) or a secondary cell group (SCG), if cell groups are configured.

[0036] From the physical layer perspective, the random access procedure triggered by a PDCCH order includes the transmission of random access preamble (Msgl) in a PRACH by a UE, the transmission of RAR (RACH response) message with a PDCCH and a corresponding PDSCH (Msg2), and when applicable, the transmission of a PUSCH scheduled by a RAR UL grant, and PDSCH for contention resolution if the RACH procedure is contention based.

[0037] Rel-18 PDCCH order for mTRP with two-Time Advance (TA)

[0038] The Rel-18 two-TA feature relies on multi -DCI solutions. A PRACH association indicator (0 or 1 bit) is introduced:

[0039] - 1 bit if the UE is provided with Time Advance Group (TAG-Id2), and the UE is not provided CORESETpoolIndex or is provided CORESETPoolIndex with value 0 for the first set of CORESETs, and is provided CORESETPoolIndex with value 1 for the second set of CORESETs. This field indicates which Physical Cell Identity (PCI) is associated with the PRACH transmission if the UE is provided SSB-MTCAddtionalPCI. The bit field index 0 of this field is mapped to the PCI of the serving cell, and the bit field index 1 of this field is mapped to the active additional PCI. This field indicates which Pathloss (PL)-RS is associated with the PRACH transmission if the UE is not provided SSB-MTCAddtionalPCI. The bit field index 0 of this field is mapped to the DLRS that the Demodulation (DM)-RS of the PDCCH order is QCL’ed with, and the bit field index 1 of this field is mapped to the SS / PBCH indicated by the SS / PBCH index field in this DCI format.

[0040] UL-only nodes

[0041] It is expected that the demand on capacity and user throughput will increase in the future. UL transmissions may become a limiting factor, partly due to the natural imbalance of spectral efficiency between UL and DL (which comes from e.g. different number antennas, different power levels, etc.) but also partly due to an increase of UL heavy services like gaming, vehicle to vehicle (V2V) communications, etc.

[0042] A potential remedy to this is to densify the networks more in the UL than in the DL. This may be done by for instance providing radio nodes that only receive in the UL (they do hence not perform any DL transmissions). Such a transmission node will be referred to as an “UL-only node / TRP” herein. By using such UL-only nodes one could consequently enhance the UL without enhancing the DL. While there is obviously no direct improvement in DL performance, as compared to normal DL+UL nodes, benefits of UL-only nodes include lower complexity and weight, smaller volumes, ease of deployment and avoiding the need for permits to deploy radio transmitters. A first step to better support UL-only nodes has been included in the NR MIMO Rel- 19 WID, where the power control for Frequency Range 1 (FR1) and FR2 will be enhanced to better support UL-only nodes.

[0043] In the Rel-19 MIMO WID, the following objective is included:

[0044] “5 Specify enhancement for asymmetric DL sTRP / UL mTRP deployment scenarios, assuming intra-band intra-DU non-co-located mTRP scenarios, without changing existing cell definition or defining a new cell (e.g. UL-only cell), assuming the Rel-17 / 18 unified TCI framework and fully reusing the legacy QCL / UL spatial relation rules, targeting FR1 and FR2

[0045] Two closed-loop PC adjustment states for SRS, both separate from PUSCH; and pathloss offset configurations for pathloss calculation to UL TRP(s), when the pathloss RS is from DL sTRP.

[0046] Two TAs through reusing Rel-18 specification of two TAs for multi-DCI-based multi- TRP and removing the restriction that coresetPoolIndex needs to be configured, assuming legacy PRACH re source s".

[0047] In the RAN1#118 meeting, the following agreements on pathloss offset for pathloss calculation to UL TRP were achieved:

[0048] Agreement: For indicating a PL offset

[0049] for PDCCH-order PRACH transmission at least for FR1, support Alt3:

[0050] Alt3: The PL offset associated with one of the indicated joint / UL TCI state for UL TRP in unified TCI framework is applied on the PDCCH-order PRACH transmission

[0051] - FFS the detailed design of DCI format: e.g., how to indicate one of the indicated joint / UL TCI states or whether to apply the PL offset in the indicated TCI state or not.

[0052] SUMMARY

[0053] In this disclosure, the terms UL-only node, UL-only TRP, UL-only Reception / Receive Point (RP) are exchangeable.

[0054] There currently exist certain challenge(s). In existing NR multi-TRP operation, it is assumed that each node can be used for both DL transmission and UL reception. For NR Rel-19, the idea of deploying UL-only nodes in a cell has been proposed. UL-only nodes may be useful in the following scenarios:

[0055] - UL-only nodes deployed at the cell edge to provide better UL coverage for cell edgeUEs;

[0056] - UL-only node deployed in a Time Division Duplex (TDD) band where there is dominant UL allocation;

[0057] - UL-only node deployed in a band that can only be used for UL transmission due to regulatory issues;

[0058] - UL-only node deployed for network energy saving.

[0059] In NR, UL power control is based on the DL pathloss computation at the UE (e.g., based on the pathloss computed from a DL PL-RS). An UL-only node receives only and does not transmit any DL signals. For this reason, it can also be referred to as UL-only RP. The Rel-18 mTRP two-TA deployment is based on a multi-DCI solution, because the UE can receive a PDCCH order from each of the mTRPs. However, in the asymmetric DL single TRP (sTRP) UL mTRPs deployment, the single DL TRP is used to transmit the single DCI (sDCI), since the UL- only node does not transmit any DL control signals or DL data. Therefore, in the context of the asymmetric DL sTRP UL mTRPs deployment, the solutions provided are single-DCI based solutions. For example, methods are needed to indicate PRACH association for the s-DCI based solution in this context, including, e.g., how to carry information related to output power setting, spatial filtering and DL reference timing / UL time alignment, etc., in the PDCCH order.

[0060] Certain aspects of the disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to these or other challenges.

[0061] This disclosure describes several different methods on how to signal information to a UE, the information related to a PRACH association to either the anchor TRP or the UL-only TRPin a PDCCH order, in an asymmetric DL sTRP UL mTRP deployment. The information may include other information, such as spatial filter, transmit power setting, DL / UL timing, etc.

[0062] Some embodiments are related to the scenario where a UE is only configured with Rel- 19 asymmetric UL-only operation. In this case, in one example, the legacy PRACH association indicator (reuse the condition tag2-Id being configured) is used by the network (NW) to signal the association to either the anchor TRP or the UL-only TRP.

[0063] In another example, the 1-bit PRACH association indicator is used to jointly indicate information, such as spatial filter, transmission power, DL reference timing, UL time alignment, etc., for a PRACH transmission.

[0064] Some embodiments are related to the scenario where the UE is configured with both Rel-18 symmetric mTRP and Rel-19 asymmetric mTR. In this case, in one example, a multiplebit PRACH association indicator is introduced which can signal PRACH association for both the symmetric mTRP scenario and the asymmetric mTRP scenario.

[0065] In another example, a separate bitfield in the PDCCH order is introduced to signal the PRACH association only for the UL-only operation.

[0066] More specifically, there is provided a method in a UE / wireless device, configured with a first TRP and a second TRP. The method comprises: receiving a configuration of a PDCCH order, from the first TRP; receiving the PDCCH order, from the first TRP, wherein the PDCCH order comprises an indication that a transmission is either destined to the first TRP or the second TRP, wherein the second TRP is an UL only TRP, which does not transmit DL transmissions; and sending a transmission. There is also provided a wireless device or UE comprising processing circuitry and network interface to perform this method.

[0067] There is provided a method in the network node configured with a first TRP and a second TRP in communication with a UE / wireless device (e.g. the UE is configured with both Rel-18 symmetric mTRP and Rel-19 asymmetric mTRP). The method comprises: sending a configuration of a PDCCH order, to the UE; sending the PDCCH order to the UE, wherein the PDCCH order comprises an indication that a transmission is either destined to the first TRP or the second TRP, wherein the second TRP is an UL only TRP, which does not transmit DL transmissions; and receiving a transmission from the UE for either the first TRP or second TRP, based on the indication. There is also provided a network node comprising processing circuitry and network interface to perform this method.

[0068] Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantage(s). The solutions in this disclosure will enable the NW to signal to a UE about the association of a PRACH transmission triggered by a PDCCH order to an anchor TRP or an UL-only TRP, and / or get information about suitable output power and / or spatial filter and / or DL reference timing and / or UL time alignment for the PRACH transmission targeting a UL-only TRP.

[0069] The teachings of certain embodiments may improve e.g. the data rate, latency, power consumption.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0070] Exemplary embodiments will be described in more detail with reference to the following figures, in which:

[0071] Fig. 1 illustrates an example of a UE communicating with a serving cell with an anchor node and an UL-only node (e.g. using two panels), the UE being only configured with Rel-19 asymmetric mTRP operation.

[0072] Fig. 2 illustrates an example of a scenario where the UE is configured with both Rel- 18 symmetric mTRP operation and Rel-19 asymmetric mTRP operation.

[0073] Fig. 3 illustrates an example of a signal diagram between a UE and mTRPs, according to an embodiment.

[0074] Fig. 4 illustrates a flow chart of a method in a UE, according to an embodiment.

[0075] Fig. 5 illustrates a flow chart of a method in a network node, according to an embodiment.

[0076] Fig. 6 shows an example of a communication system, according to an embodiment.

[0077] Fig. 7 shows a schematic diagram of a UE, according to an embodiment.

[0078] Fig. 8 shows a schematic diagram of a network node, according to an embodiment.

[0079] Fig. 9 illustrates a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0080] Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art.

[0081] A general diagram of a serving cell with an UL-only node is shown in Fig. 1, where an anchor node (TRP0) 10 provides a full coverage of a serving cell with both DL and UL transmissions and an UL-only node (TRP1) 12 is deployed at the cell edge to improve UL performance of cell edge UEs. TRP0 and TRP1 are connected to a gNB (e.g. Intra-DU) 14 via an ideal backhaul link (not shown in Fig. 1). A UE 16 in the cell may perform an initial access and network connection via TRP0. After the initial access and / or network connection, if the UE is closer to TRP1 than to TRP0 or if the gNB 14 decides to move the UE 16 to TRP1, e.g. to reduce the uplink interference for TRP0 or to improve resource usage efficiency, the gNB 14 may direct the UE 16 to transmit towards the TRP1. The presence of TRP1 may be transparent to UEs in thecell. Due to the UE moving, the distance between UE 16 and TRPO could be different from the distance between UE 16 and TRP1.

[0082] In the following, a node that provides UL-only service means that there are no DL data transmissions. And an anchor node refers to a node that provides both DL transmissions and UL receptions.

[0083] Figs. 1 and 2 illustrate two mTRP scenarios which involve asymmetrical mTRP operation. As shown in Fig. 1, the UE is only configured with intra-DU asymmetrical mTRP. In Fig. 2, the UE 16 is configured with both symmetrical mTRP operation and asymmetrical mTRP operation. In the example in Fig. 2, the UE 16 receives aPDCCH order from Anchor DL / UL TRPO 10 which is managed by intra-DU 0 (14). For intra-DU mTRP operation, the UE 16 may transmit PRACH to Anchor DL / UL TRPO (10), Anchor DL / UL TRP1 (18), or UL-only TRP3 (12). For inter-DU mTRP operation, the UE 16 may also transmit PRACH to Anchor DL / UL TRP2 (20) which is managed by inter-DU 1 (22).

[0084] Fig. 3 illustrates a signaling diagram 100 for communications between a UE 16 and different network nodes. Fig. 3 will be described with reference to Fig. 2. Indeed, the UE 16 operates in both symmetrical mTRP and asymmetrical mTRP environments.

[0085] In step 110, the UE sends a request to the network node 10 serving its cell, e.g. anchor DL / UL TRPO, for an initial access to the network. The TRPO can perform DL and UL transmissions. As such, TRPO provides the DL to the UE in this case. In step 120, the request is accepted and the connection is established between the UE and the TRPO. In step 130, TRPO sends configurations of mTRP and / or configurations of PDCCH orders to the UE.

[0086] In step 140, TRPO sends a PDCCH order to the UE, the PDCCH comprising an indication of a PRACH destined to a UL only TRP (e.g. UL only TRP3) or an anchor TRP (e.g. TRP2). The PDCCH order can also comprise PRACH settings / parameters, e.g. information regarding spatial filter, PL offset, PL-RS, timing, etc., for the mTRPs, e.g. TRP1, TRP2, and the UL only TRP3. The details of the PDCCH order will be described in further detail below.

[0087] In step 150, upon receipt of the PDCCH order, the UE decodes / determines the indication of the destined / targeted network node for PRACH transmissions and the different information carried by the PDCCH order, such as spatial filter, PL offset, PL-RS, timing, etc.

[0088] In step 160, the UE sends PRACH transmissions towards one or more TRPs, such as TRPO, TRP1, TRP2 or UL only TRP3, based on the decoded information.

[0089] For instance, in step 130, the UE receives, from the higher layers for example, configurations on mTRP operations, which may be one or more of:

[0090] - intra-DU symmetrical mTRP (DL / UL anchor TRPs);

[0091] - inter-DU symmetrical mTRP (DL / UL anchor TRPs);

[0092] - intra-DU asymmetrical mTRP (mixed DL / UL anchor TRP and UL-only TRP).

[0093] Note that the indication of multi-TRP configuration is often implicit in NR. For example, in Rel-16 mDCI based mTRP, if different values are configured for CORESETPoolIndex, the UE knows that multi-DCI multi-TRP is configured. For asymmetric mTRP, the implicit indication of asymmetrical mTRP is most likely associated with PL-offset value configured in a joint or UL TCI state by RRC; and / or a second separate TPC for SRS, e.g. “enableTwoSeparatePowerControlAdjustmentStatesForSRS” being configured in a bandwidth part (BWP) configuration. In this disclosure, intra-DU and intra-cell are used analogously / interchangeably, and, inter-DU and inter-cell are used analogously / interchangeably.

[0094] In addition, the UE can receive from higher layer signaling unified TCI states configuration for DL / UL channel s / signals, which can be “DL / joint TCI states”, and / or “UL TCI states”. For two-TA operation in Rel-18, the joint and / or DL TCI states will be configured with a TAG ID pointer pointing to one of the two TAG IDs. For simplicity, this disclosure assumes that the anchor TRP is associated with TAG ID 0, and the UL-only TRP is associated with TAG ID 1. If the NW receives PRACH associated with TAG ID 0, it will update TA 0 and potentially send to the UE a TA update Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) for TA 0. Similarly, if the NW receives PRACH associated with TAG ID 1, it will update TA 1 and potentially sends to the UE a TA update MAC CE for TA 1.

[0095] Furthermore, the UE can receive from the higher layers a configuration for a PDCCH order which may consist of different PDCCH order configurations targeting the Anchor TRPs and the UL-only TRP.

[0096] In step 140, the UE receives a PDCCH order from the anchor TRP0, for example. The PDCCH order comprises an indication for one or more of a transmission (e.g. PRACH) destined to the UL only TRP and a transmission (e.g. PRACH) destined to a TRP (e.g. anchor TRP). Also, based on the indication, the UE can decode information related to PRACH settings such as the spatial filter, and / or power setting, and / or timing, etc.

[0097] In the following, two scenarios are considered: 1) when the UE is configured only with Rel-19 asymmetric mTRP operation and 2) when the UE is configured with both Rel-19 asymmetric mTRP operation and Rel-18 symmetric mTRP operation.

[0098] Some embodiments related to the first scenario (UE only configured with Rel-19 asymmetric mTRP operation) will be described now.

[0099] After receiving the PDCCH order, the UE can determine the TRP to which a PRACH is to be transmitted and determine the other parameters associated with the PRACH transmission,based on the indication in the received PDCCH order. The other parameters may be a spatial filter, PL-RS, PL offset, DL reference timing, uplink time alignment, etc., for the PRACH transmission.

[0100] For example, the indication in the PDCCH order may be the legacy 1-bit PRACH association indicator (depending on the higher layer configuration, such as TAG-ID2, CORESETPoolIndex, SSB-MTCAdditionalPCI); the PRACH association indicator can signal association with different PCIs and / or different PL-RS. In some examples, the indication in the PDCCH order may be a new PRACH association indicator introduced for UL only TRP.

[0101] In another example, the UE can determine the indication in the PDCCH order for UL- only operation according to one or more of the following higher layer configurations:

[0102] - the UE is provided with TAG-Id2;

[0103] - the UE is not provided with CORESETpoolndex;

[0104] - the UE is provided with PL offset in joint TCI states or UL TCI states;

[0105] -the UE is provided with higher layer parameter “enableTwoSeparatePowerControlAdjustementStatesForSRS” in BWP -Uplink Dedicated or SRS-config;

[0106] - the TCI state configuration of the DM-RS of the CORESET in which the UE received the PDCCH order;

[0107] - Search space configuration of the CORESET in which the UE received the PDCCH order.

[0108] In another example, in the UL-only operation, the indication in the PDCCH order can jointly indicate one or more of the parameters (that the UE applies) associated with the PRACH transmission and one or more of Spatial filter, PL-RS, PL offset, DL reference timing, and UL time alignment.

[0109] In some examples, the indication in the PDCCH order can enable or disable the application of pathloss offset which is also used as an implicit TRP association indicator. Typically, the application of the pathloss offset should be enabled when determining PRACH transmission power if the PRACH is targeting the UL-only TRP.

[0110] In some examples, the indication in the PDCCH order can indicate the PL-RS used to derive the PRACH transmission power targeting UL-only TRP, e.g., the PL-RS can be associated with:[OHl] - An indicated TCI state which is associated with one of two TAG IDs (e.g. TAG ID o);

[0112] - An activated TCI state which is associated with one of two TAG IDs (e.g. TAG ID0).

[0113] In some examples, the indication in the PDCCH order can indicate DL reference timing and / or UL time alignment to perform PRACH transmissions. In one example, the DL reference timing and / or ULtime alignment used to transmit PRACH towards the UL-only TRP can be set to a certain timing offset from the DL reference timing and / or UL time alignment to transmit PRACH towards the Anchor TRP.

[0114] In some examples, the indication in the PRACH order can indicate n- TimingAdvanceOffset or n-TimingAdvanceOffset2, e.g., value “0” indicates n- TimingAdvanceOffset and value “1” indicates n-TimingAdvanceOffset2.

[0115] In some examples, the indication in the PDCCH order can indicate spatial filter used to transmit PRACH towards an UL-only TRP, for example, the spatial filter can be an indicated TCI state which has TAG ID pointing to one of the two TAG IDs (e.g. TAG ID 1).

[0116] In one example, in the UL-only operation:

[0117] - if the 1 -bit indication in the PDCCH order is PRACH association indicator = 0 (or1), the PRACH transmission is targeting an anchor TRP and will use one or more of the following information: a. SSB indicated in the PDCCH order is used as PL-RS to compute the pathloss and thereby transmission power for the PRACH transmission; b. SSB associated with the PDCCH order is used to derive the spatial filter for the PRACH transmission; c. PL-offset is disabled in the derivation of the PRACH transmission power; d. SSB indicated in the PDCCH order is used to determine DL reference timing for the PRACH transmission; e. A offset f°rTAG ID 0 and TAG ID 1 may be configured by the NW and may be denoted as n-TimingAdvanceOffset and n-TimingAdvanceOffset2 respectively; and f.TA offsetmay be some fixed value(s) defined in the standard specification.

[0118] - if the 1 -bit indication in the PDCCH order is PRACH association indicator = 1 (or0), the PRACH transmission is targeting the UL-only TRP, and will use one or more of the following: a. PL offset is enabled in the derivation of the PRACH transmission power; b. RS associated with the QCL source of the indicated TCI state which has the same TAG ID as the 1 (TCI states associated with the UL only TRP have TAG ID 1);c. A PL-RS associated with the TCI states associated with the UL only TRP (which for example can be a DL-RS associated with an activated or indicated DL / UL / Joint TCI state or a separately configured / indicated PL- RS); d. DL timing is determined by SSB associated with the PDCCH order, (or SSB associated with an indicated Joint / DL TCI state) and (in some examples) an additional DL timing offset; e. A offset f°rTAG ID 0 and TAG ID 1 may be configured by the NW and may be denoted as n-TimingAdvanceOffset and n-TimingAdvanceOffset2 respectively; f.TA offsetmay be some fixed values defined in the standard specification.

[0119] In another example, in the UL-only operation:

[0120] - if the 1 -bit indication in the PDCCH order is a new one bit indicator (in addition to the PRACH association indicator) = 0 (or 1), the PRACH transmission is targeted towards an anchor TRP and will use one or more of the same information as mentioned in the case above regarding the 1 bit PRACH association indicator;

[0121] - if the 1 -bit indication in the PDCCH order is a new one bit indicator (in addition to the PRACH association indicator) = 1 (or 0), the PRACH transmission is targeting the UL-only TRP, and will use the same information as mentioned in the case above regarding the 1 bit PRACH association indicator.

[0122] It should be noted that for the embodiments / examples described above, other bit(s) in the PDCCH order might be used instead of re-using the PRACH association indicator.

[0123] Some embodiments related to the second scenario (UE configured with both Rel-18 symmetric mTRP operation and Rel-19 asymmetric mTRP operation) will be described now.

[0124] In one embodiment, when the UE is configured with both Rel-18 symmetric mTRP operation and Rel-19 asymmetric mTRP operation, the PDCCH order will include a new separate PRACH association indicator in addition to the legacy 1-bit PRACH association indicator. For example, the new indication is used to indicate the UL-only specific PRACH. In this case, the new indication can be referred to as the UL-only specific PRACH association indicator, which can be a 1-bit signaling and can jointly indicate multiple PRACH settings. In one example:

[0125] - if the 1-bit UL-only specific PRACH association indicator = 0 (or 1), the PRACH transmission is targeting the anchor TRP and will use one or more of the following: a. SSB indicated in the PDCCH order is used as PL-RS to compute the path loss and thereby the transmission power for the PRACH transmission;b. SSB associated with the PDCCH order is used to derive the spatial filter for the PRACH transmission; c. PL-offset is disabled in the derivation of the PRACH transmission power; d. SSB indicated in the PDCCH order is used to determine the DL reference timing for the PRACH transmission; e. The TCI state configuration of the DM-RS of the CORESET in which the UE received the PDCCH order; f. The Search space configuration of the CORESET in which the UE received the PDCCH order; g. ATA offsetfor TAG ID 0 and TAG ID 1 may be configured by the NW and may be denoted as n-TimingAdvanceOffset and n-TimingAdvanceOffset2 respectively; h. NTA offsetmay be a fixed value defined in the standard specification.

[0126] - if the 1-bit UL-only specific PRACH association indicator = l(or 0), the PRACH transmission is targeting the UL-only TRP, and will use one or more of the following: a. PL offset is enabled in the derivation of the PRACH transmission power; b. RS associated with QCL source of the indicated TCI state which has the same TAG ID as the 1 (TCI states associated with UL only TRP have TAG ID 1); c. A PL-RS associated with the TCI states associated with the UL only TRP (which for example can be a DL-RS associated with an activated or indicated DL / UL / Joint TCI state or a separately configured / indicated PL- RS); d. DL timing is determined by SSB associated with the PDCCH order, (or SSB associated with an indicated Joint / DL TCI state) and (in some examples) an additional DL timing offset; e.TAoffset f°rTAG ID 0 and TAG ID 1 may be configured by the NW and may be denoted as n-TimingAdvanceOffset and n-TimingAdvanceOffset2 respectively; f. NTA offsetmay be a fixed value defined in the standard specification.

[0127] In some examples, when the UE is configured with both Rel-18 symmetric mTRP operation and Rel-19 asymmetric mTRP operation, the PDCCH order will include a multi -bit UL- only specific PRACH association indicator, in addition to the legacy 1-bit PRACH associationindicator. In this case / example, one codepoint of the multi-bit UL-only specific PRACH association indictor may indicate one or a combination of PRACH settings, for example:

[0128] - Codepoint “00” jointly signals PRACH information related to PL-offset, PL-RS and spatial filter targeting an Anchor TRP;

[0129] - Codepoint “01” jointly signals PRACH information related to PL-offset, PL-RS and spatial filter targeting the UL-only TRP;

[0130] - Codepoint “10” jointly signals PRACH information related to PL-offset, PL-RS, spatial filter and DL timing offset / UL time alignment targeting the Anchor TRP;

[0131] - Codepoint “11” jointly signals PRACH information related to PL-offset, PL-RS, spatial filter and DL timing offset / UL time alignment targeting the UL-only TRP.

[0132] Those are only examples. The codepoints can be changed to indicate the different PRACH settings. In some examples, NTA offsetfor TAG ID for the symmetric and asymmetric operation may be configured by the NW and may be denoted as n-TimingAdvanceOffset, n- TimingAdvanceOffset2 and n-TimingAdvanceOffset3 respectively. In some other examples, it may be a fixed value defined in specification.

[0133] In some examples, a joint multi-bit PRACH association indicator is included in the PDCCH order for symmetric mTRP operation and asymmetric mTRP operation. For example, one codepoint of the multi -bit joint PRACH association indicator may indicate one or a combination of PRACH settings targeting an intra-DU anchor TRP, or an intra-DU UL-only TRP, or an inter- DU anchor TRP. Furthermore, depending on higher layer configuration, a certain codepoint can also signal different PRACH information targeting an intra-DU anchor TRP, an intra-DU UL-only TRP, or an inter-DU Anchor TRP. Below are some examples:

[0134] - if SSB-MTCAdditionalPCI is configured, codepoint “00” indicates PRACH is transmitted to the active additional PCI;

[0135] - if SSB-MTCAdditionalPCI is not configured, codepoint “00” indicates PL-RS forPRACH transmission is the SS / PBCH indicated by the SS / PBCH index field in the DCI format;

[0136] - if an indicated TCLState is configured with PL offset, codepoint “11” indicates PL offset is enabled in the derivation of the PRACH transmission power;

[0137] - if an indicated TCI-State is not configured with PL offset, codepoint “11” indicatesDL timing offset is not applied when setting up PRACH transmission timing.

[0138] It should be noted that for the embodiments described above, other bit(s) in the PDCCH order might be used instead of re-using the PRACH association indicator.

[0139] In step 160 of Fig. 3, the UE transmits a PRACH towards either an Anchor TRP (TRP1 or TRP2 of Fig. 2) or UL-only TRP (TRP3 of Fig. 2) based on the indication in the receivedPDCCH order in step 140. Also, the parameters associated with the PRACH transmission are derived from the received PDCCH order, based on the indication.

[0140] In this disclosure, cross TRP PRACH triggering is assumed to be supported. Here, the cross TRP PRACH triggering means that the PDCCH order is received from a first TRP (e.g. TRPO of Fig. 2) and the PRACH transmission is transmitted towards a second TRP (e.g. TRP1 or TRP3), where both the first TRP and the second TRP are within the serving cell.

[0141] Now turning to Fig. 4, a flow chart of a method 200 in a wireless device, such as UE 16 of Fig. 2 or 3 or 612 of Fig. 6 or UE 700 of Fig. 7, will be described. The wireless device is configured with a first TRP and a second TRP. The first TRP can be part of network node 610 of Fig. 6 or 800 of Fig. 8. Method 200 comprises:

[0142] Step 210: receiving a configuration of a PDCCH order from the first TRP;

[0143] Step 220: receiving a PDCCH order, from the first TRP, wherein the PDCCH order comprises an indication that a transmission is either destined to the first TRP or the second TRP, wherein the second TRP is an uplink only TRP, which does not transmit downlink transmissions;

[0144] Step 230: sending a transmission to one of the first TRP and second TRP based on the indication in the received PDCCH.

[0145] In some examples, the transmission can be a PRACH transmission. In some examples, the wireless device can receive a configuration for the first TRP or the second TRP, the configuration comprising one or more of the following:

[0146] - intra-distributed unit (DU) symmetrical multi TRP (mTRP);

[0147] - inter-DU symmetrical mTRP;

[0148] - intra-DU asymmetrical mTRP.

[0149] In some examples, the indication can further indicate transmission parameters for the first TRP or the second TRP. In some examples, the wireless device can determine parameters associated with the PRACH transmission. In some examples, the transmission parameters can comprise one or more of a spatial filter, a PL-RS, a PL offset, a DL reference timing, an UL time alignment. In some examples, the indication can reuse the 1 -bit PRACH association indicator. For example, the PRACH association indicator can be set to 0 to indicate that the transmission is destined to the first TRP or set to 1 to indicate that the transmission is destined to the second TRP.

[0150] Now turning to Fig. 5, a flow chart of a method 300 in a network node, configured with a first TRP and a second TRP, will be described. The network node can be a DU and configured to communicate with a wireless device, such as UE 16 or 612 of Fig. 6 or UE 700 of Fig. 7. The network node can be network node 610 of Fig. 6 or 800 of Fig. 8. Method 300 comprises:

[0151] Step 310: sending a configuration of a PDCCH order, to the wireless device;

[0152] Step 320: sending the PDCCH order to the wireless device, wherein the PDCCH order comprises an indication that a transmission is either destined to the first TRP or the second TRP, wherein the second TRP is an UL only TRP, which does not transmit downlink transmissions; and

[0153] Step 330: receiving a transmission from the wireless device for either the first TRP or second TRP, based on the indication.

[0154] In some examples, the transmission can be a PRACH transmission. In some examples, the network node can send a configuration for the first TRP or the second TRP, the configuration comprising one or more of the following:

[0155] - intra-distributed unit (DU) symmetrical multi TRP (mTRP);

[0156] - inter-DU symmetrical mTRP;

[0157] - intra-DU asymmetrical mTRP.

[0158] In some examples, the indication can further indicate transmission parameters for the first TRP or the second TRP. In some examples, the transmission parameters can comprise one or more of a spatial filter, a PL-RS, a PL offset, a DL reference timing, an UL time alignment. In some examples, the indication can reuse the 1 -bit PRACH association indicator. For example, the PRACH association indicator can be set to 0 to indicate that the transmission is destined to the first TRP or set to 1 to indicate that the transmission is destined to the second TRP.

[0159] Fig. 6 shows an example of a communication system 600 in accordance with some embodiments.

[0160] In the example, the communication system 600 includes a telecommunication network 602 that includes an access network 604, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network 606, which includes one or more core network nodes 608. The access network 604 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 610a and 610b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 610), or any other similar 3rdGeneration Partnership Project (3 GPP) access nodes or non-3GPP access points. Moreover, as will be appreciated by those of skill in the art, a network node is not necessarily limited to an implementation in which a radio portion and a baseband portion are supplied and integrated by a single vendor. Thus, it will be understood that network nodes include disaggregated implementations or portions thereof. For example, in some embodiments, the telecommunication network 602 includes one or more Open- RAN (ORAN) network nodes. An ORAN network node is a node in the telecommunication network 602 that supports an ORAN specification (e.g., a specification published by the O-RAN Alliance, or any similar organization) and may operate alone or together with other nodes toimplement one or more functionalities of any node in the telecommunication network 602, including one or more network nodes 610 and / or core network nodes 608.

[0161] Examples of an ORAN network node include an open radio unit (O-RU), an open DU (O-DU), an open central unit (O-CU), including an O-CU control plane (O-CU-CP) or an O-CU user plane (O-CU-UP), a RAN intelligent controller (near-real time or non-real time) hosting software or software plug-ins, such as a near-real time control application (e.g., xApp) or a non- real time control application (e.g., rApp), or any combination thereof (the adjective “open” designating support of an ORAN specification). The network node may support a specification by, for example, supporting an interface defined by the ORAN specification, such as an Al, Fl, Wl, El, E2, X2, Xn interface, an open fronthaul user plane interface, or an open fronthaul management plane interface. Moreover, an ORAN access node may be a logical node in a physical node. Furthermore, an ORAN network node may be implemented in a virtualization environment (described further below) in which one or more network functions are virtualized. For example, the virtualization environment may include an O-Cloud computing platform orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an O-2 interface defined by the 0-RAN Alliance or comparable technologies. The network nodes 610 facilitate direct or indirect connection of UE, such as by connecting UEs 612a to 612d (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 612) to the core network 606 over one or more wireless connections.

[0162] Example wireless communications over a wireless connection include transmitting and / or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and / or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors. Moreover, in different embodiments, the communication system 600 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and / or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and / or signals whether via wired or wireless connections. The communication system 600 may include and / or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and / or other similar type of system.

[0163] The UEs 612 may be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including wireless devices arranged, configured, and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with the network nodes 610 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network nodes 610 are arranged, capable, configured, and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with the UEs 612 and / or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunication network 602 to enable and / or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and / or to perform other functions, such as administration in the telecommunication network 602.

[0164] In the depicted example, the core network 606 connects the network nodes 610 to one or more host computing systems, such as host 616. These connections may be direct or indirect via one or more intermediary networks or devices. In other examples, network nodes may be directly coupled to hosts. The core network 606 includes one more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 608) that are structured with hardware and software components. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UEs, network nodes, and / or hosts, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node 608. Example core network nodes include functions of one or more of a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), Authentication Server Function (AUSF), Subscription Identifier De-concealing function (SIDF), Unified Data Management (UDM), Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), Network Exposure Function (NEF), and / or a User Plane Function (UPF).

[0165] The host 616 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network 604 and / or the telecommunication network 602. The host 616 may host a variety of applications to provide one or more service. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio / video content, data collection services such as retrieving and compiling data on various ambient conditions detected by a plurality of UEs, analytics functionality, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for an alarm and surveillance center, or any other such function performed by a server.

[0166] As a whole, the communication system 600 of Figure 6 enables connectivity between the UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system may be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as specific standards that include, but are not limited to: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Long Term Evolution (LTE), and / or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., 6G); wireless local area network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards (WiFi); and / or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC) ZigBee, LiFi, and / or any low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox.

[0167] In some examples, the telecommunication network 602 is a cellular network that implements 3GPP standardized features. Accordingly, the telecommunications network 602 maysupport network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunication network 602. For example, the telecommunications network 602 may provide Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and / or Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC) / Massive loT services to yet further UEs.

[0168] In some examples, the UEs 612 are configured to transmit and / or receive information without direct human interaction. For instance, a UE may be designed to transmit information to the access network 604 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network 604. Additionally, a UE may be configured for operating in single- or multi -RAT or multi-standard mode. For example, a UE may operate with any one or combination of Wi-Fi, NR (New Radio) and LTE, i.e. being configured for multi -radio dual connectivity (MR-DC), such as E-UTRAN (Evolved-UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) New Radio - Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

[0169] In the example, the hub 614 communicates with the access network 604 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE 612c and / or 612d) and network nodes (e.g., network node 610b). In some examples, the hub 614 may be a controller, router, content source and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs. For example, the hub 614 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network 606 for the UEs. As another example, the hub 614 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UEs. Commands or instructions may be received from the UEs, network nodes 610, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in the hub 614. As another example, the hub 614 may be a data collector that acts as temporary storage for UE data and, in some embodiments, may perform analysis or other processing of the data. As another example, the hub 614 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR device, display, loudspeaker, or other media delivery device, the hub 614 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub 614 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and / or after adding additional local content. In still another example, the hub 614 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular if one or more of the UEs are low energy loT devices.

[0170] The hub 614 may have a constant / persistent or intermittent connection to the network node 610b. The hub 614 may also allow for a different communication scheme and / or schedule between the hub 614 and UEs (e.g., UE 612c and / or 612d), and between the hub 614 and the core network 606. In other examples, the hub 614 is connected to the core network 606 and / or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, the hub 614 may be configured to connect to anM2M service provider over the access network 604 and / or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes 610 while still connected via the hub 614 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub 614 may be a dedicated hub - that is, a hub whose primary function is to route communications to / from the UEs from / to the network node 610b. In other embodiments, the hub 614 may be a nondedicated hub - that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and network node 610b, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and / or end point for certain data channels.

[0171] Fig. 7 shows a UE 700 in accordance with some embodiments. The UE 700 presents additional details of some embodiments of the UE 612 of Fig. 6. As used herein, a UE refers to a device capable, configured, arranged and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and / or other UEs. Examples of a UE include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, cell phone, Virtual Reality (VR) device, wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE), vehicle, vehiclemounted, etc. Other examples include any UE identified by the 3 GPP, including a narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT) UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and / or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.

[0172] A UE may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3 GPP standard for sidelink communication, Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), or vehicle-to- everything (V2X). In other examples, a UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and / or operates the relevant device. Instead, a UE may represent a device that is intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which may not, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, a UE may represent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter).

[0173] The UE 700 includes processing circuitry 702 that is operatively coupled via a bus 704 to an input / output interface 706, a power source 708, a memory 710, a communication interface 712, and / or any other component, or any combination thereof. Certain UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in Fig. 7. The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

[0174] The processing circuitry 702 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute instructions stored as machine-readable computer programs in the memory 710. The processing circuitry 702 may beimplemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, field- programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, general-purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or digital signal processor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuitry 702 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs). Furthermore, the processing circuitry 702 may be configured to perform any steps of method 200 of Fig. 4.

[0175] In the example, the input / output interface 706 may be configured to provide an interface or interfaces to an input device, output device, or one or more input and / or output devices. An input device may allow a user to capture information into the UE 700.

[0176] In some embodiments, the power source 708 is structured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic device, or power cell, may be used. The power source 708 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from the power source 708 itself, and / or an external power source, to the various parts of the UE 700 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Delivering power may be, for example, for charging of the power source 708. Power circuitry may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from the power source 708 to make the power suitable for the respective components of the UE 700 to which power is supplied.

[0177] The memory 710 may be or be configured to include memory such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM), electrically EPROM (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, flash drives, and so forth. In one example, the memory 710 includes one or more application programs 714, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data 716. The memory 710 may store, for use by the UE 700, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

[0178] The memory 710 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID), flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, high-density digital versatile disc (HD-DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray optical disc drive, holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, external mini-dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as tamper resistant module in the form of a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) including one or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs), such as a USIM and / or ISIM, other memory, orany combination thereof. The UICC may for example be an embedded UICC (eUICC), integrated UICC (iUICC) or a removable UICC commonly known as ‘SIM card.’ The memory 710 may allow the UE 700 to access instructions, application programs and the like, stored on transitory or non-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data. An article of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system may be tangibly embodied as or in the memory 710, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium.

[0179] The processing circuitry 702 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using the communication interface 712. The communication interface 712 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 722. The communication interface 712 may include one or more transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or a network node in an access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter 718 and / or a receiver 720 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth). Moreover, the transmitter 718 and receiver 720 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 722) and may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.

[0180] In the illustrated embodiment, communication functions of the communication interface 712 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short- range communications such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communication such as the use of the global positioning system (GPS) to determine a location, another like communication function, or any combination thereof. Communications may be implemented in according to one or more communication protocols and / or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, New Radio (NR), UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, transmission control protocol / intemet protocol (TCP / IP), synchronous optical networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so forth.

[0181] Regardless of the type of sensor, a UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensors, through its communication interface 712, via a wireless connection to a network node. Data captured by sensors of a UE can be communicated through a wireless connection to a network node via another UE.

[0182] As another example, a UE comprises an actuator, a motor, or a switch, related to a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wirelessconnection. In response to the received wireless input the states of the actuator, the motor, or the switch may change.

[0183] A UE, when in the form of an loT) device, may be a device for use in one or more application domains, these domains comprising, but not limited to, city wearable technology, extended industrial application and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such an loT device are a device which is or which is embedded in: a connected refrigerator or freezer, a TV, a connected lighting device, an electricity meter, and any kind of medical device, like a heart rate monitor or a remote controlled surgical robot. A UE in the form of an loT device comprises circuitry and / or software in dependence of the intended application of the loT device in addition to other components as described in relation to the UE 700 shown in Fig. 7.

[0184] As yet another specific example, in an loT scenario, a UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and / or measurements, and transmits the results of such monitoring and / or measurements to another UE and / or a network node. The UE may in this case be an M2M device, which may in a 3GPP context be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the UE may implement the 3 GPP NB-IoT standard.

[0185] In practice, any number of UEs may be used together with respect to a single use case. For example, a first UE might be or be integrated in a drone and provide the drone’s speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller operating the drone. When the user makes changes from the remote controller, the first UE may adjust the throttle on the drone (e.g. by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone’s speed. The first and / or the second UE can also include more than one of the functionalities described above. For example, a UE might comprise the sensor and the actuator, and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuators.

[0186] Fig. 8 shows a network node 800 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and / or with other network nodes or equipment, in a telecommunication network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., radio access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs (NBs), evolved NBs (eNBs) and NR NBs (gNBs)), 0-RAN nodes or components of an 0-RAN node (e.g., 0-RU, 0-DU, O-CU).

[0187] Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and so, depending on the provided amount of coverage, may be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay.A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralized digital units, distributed units (e.g., in an O-RAN access node) and / or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS).

[0188] Other examples of network nodes include multiple transmission point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, UL-only TRPs, multi -standard radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, multi-cell / multicast coordination entities (MCEs), Operation and Maintenance (O&M) nodes, Operations Support System (OSS) nodes, Self-Organizing Network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)), and / or Minimization of Drive Tests (MDTs).

[0189] The network node 800 includes a processing circuitry 802, a memory 804, a communication interface 806, and a power source 808. The network node 800 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a NB) component and a RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective components. In certain scenarios in which the network node 800 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NBs. In such a scenario, each unique NB and RNC pair, may in some instances be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, the network node 800 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memory 804 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., a same antenna 810 may be shared by different RATs). The network node 800 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 800, for example GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, LoRaWAN, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chip or set of chips and other components within network node 800.

[0190] The processing circuitry 802 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software and / or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other network node 800 components, such as thememory 804, to provide network node 800 functionality. Furthermore, the processing circuitry 802 may be configured to perform any steps of method 300 of Fig. 5.

[0191] In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 802 includes a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 802 includes one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 812 and baseband processing circuitry 814. In some embodiments, the RF transceiver circuitry 812 and the baseband processing circuitry 814 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radio units and digital units. In alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 812 and baseband processing circuitry 814 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.

[0192] The memory 804 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer-readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, RAM, ROM, mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a CD or a DVD, and / or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable and / or computer-executable memory devices that store information, data, and / or instructions that may be used by the processing circuitry 802. The memory 804 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, and / or other instructions capable of being executed by the processing circuitry 802 and utilized by the network node 800. The memory 804 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry 802 and / or any data received via the communication interface 806. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 802 and memory 804 is integrated.

[0193] The communication interface 806 is used in wired or wireless communication of signaling and / or data between a network node, access network, and / or UE. As illustrated, the communication interface 806 comprises port(s) / terminal(s) 816 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection. The communication interface 806 also includes radio front-end circuitry 818 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, the antenna 810. Radio front-end circuitry 818 comprises filters 820 and amplifiers 822. The radio front-end circuitry 818 may be connected to an antenna 810 and processing circuitry 802. The radio front-end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 810 and processing circuitry 802. The radio front-end circuitry 818 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuitry 818 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 820 and / or amplifiers 822. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna 810. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 810 maycollect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 818. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 802. In other embodiments, the communication interface may comprise different components and / or different combinations of components.

[0194] In certain alternative embodiments, the network node 800 does not include separate radio front-end circuitry 818, instead, the processing circuitry 802 includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna 810. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry 812 is part of the communication interface 806. In still other embodiments, the communication interface 806 includes one or more ports or terminals 816, the radio front-end circuitry 818, and the RF transceiver circuitry 812, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface 806 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry 814, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

[0195] The antenna 810 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and / or receive wireless signals. The antenna 810 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry 818 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and / or signals wirelessly. In certain embodiments, the antenna 810 is separate from the network node 800 and connectable to the network node 800 through an interface or port.

[0196] The antenna 810, communication interface 806, and / or the processing circuitry 802 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and / or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and / or signals may be received from a UE, another network node and / or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna 810, the communication interface 806, and / or the processing circuitry 802 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and / or signals may be transmitted to a UE, another network node and / or any other network equipment.

[0197] The power source 808 provides power to the various components of network node 800 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). The power source 808 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node 800 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node 800 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., the power grid, an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry of the power source 808. As a further example, the power source 808 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, orintegrated in, power circuitry. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail.

[0198] Embodiments of the network node 800 may include additional components beyond those shown in Fig. 8 for providing certain aspects of the network node’s functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and / or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, the network node 800 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node 800 and to allow output of information from the network node 800. In some embodiments providing a core network node, such as core network node 108 of Fig. 6, some components, such as the radio front-end circuitry 818 and the RF transceiver circuitry 812 may be omitted.

[0199] Fig. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 900 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. In the present context, virtualizing means creating virtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may include virtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices and networking resources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to any device described herein, or components thereof, and relates to an implementation in which at least a portion of the functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines (VMs) implemented in one or more virtual environments 900 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes, such as a hardware computing device that operates as a network node, UE, core network node, or host. Further, in embodiments in which the virtual node does not require radio connectivity (e.g., a core network node or host), then the node may be entirely virtualized. In some embodiments, the virtualization environment 900 includes components defined by the O-RAN Alliance, such as an O-Cloud environment orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an O-2 interface. Virtualization may facilitate distributed implementations of a network node, UE, core network node, or host.

[0200] Applications 902 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) are run in the virtualization environment Q400 to implement some of the features, functions, and / or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0201] Hardware 904 includes processing circuitry, memory that stores software and / or instructions executable by hardware processing circuitry, and / or other hardware devices as described herein, such as a network interface, input / output interface, and so forth. Software may be executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers 906 (alsoreferred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs 908a and 908b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs 908), and / or perform any of the functions, features and / or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer 906 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to the VMs 908.

[0202] The VMs 908 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 906. Different embodiments of the instance of a virtual appliance 902 may be implemented on one or more of VMs 908, and the implementations may be made in different ways. Virtualization of the hardware is in some contexts referred to as network function virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry standard high volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers, and customer premise equipment.

[0203] In the context of NFV, a VM 908 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each of the VMs 908, and that part of hardware 904 that executes that VM, be it hardware dedicated to that VM and / or hardware shared by that VM with others of the VMs, forms separate virtual network elements. Still in the context of NFV, a virtual network function is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more VMs 908 on top of the hardware 904 and corresponds to the application 902.

[0204] Hardware 904 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware 904 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware 904 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g. such as in a data center or CPE) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration 910, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications 902. In some embodiments, hardware 904 is coupled to one or more radio units that each include one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that may be coupled to one or more antennas. Radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio access node or a base station. In some embodiments, some signaling can be provided with the use of a control system 912 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units.

[0205] Although the computing devices described herein (e.g., UEs, network nodes) may include the illustrated combination of hardware components, other embodiments may comprisecomputing devices with different combinations of components. It is to be understood that these computing devices may comprise any suitable combination of hardware and / or software needed to perform the tasks, features, functions and methods disclosed herein. Determining, calculating, obtaining or similar operations described herein may be performed by processing circuitry, which may process information by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and / or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination. Moreover, while components are depicted as single boxes located within a larger box, or nested within multiple boxes, in practice, computing devices may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component, and functionality may be partitioned between separate components. For example, a communication interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and / or the functionality of the components may be partitioned between the processing circuitry and the communication interface. In another example, non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.

[0206] In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein may be provided by processing circuitry executing instructions stored on in memory, which in certain embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer- readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by the processing circuitry without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device-readable storage medium, such as in a hard-wired manner. In any of those particular embodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium or not, the processing circuitry can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to the processing circuitry alone or to other components of the computing device, but are enjoyed by the computing device as a whole, and / or by end users and a wireless network generally.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A method (200) performed by a wireless device (612, 700) configured for communications with a first Transmit and Receive Point (TRP) and a second TRP, the method comprising: receiving (210) a configuration of a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) order, from the first TRP; receiving (220) the PDCCH order, from the first TRP, wherein the PDCCH order comprises an indication that a transmission is either destined to the first TRP or the second TRP, wherein the second TRP is an uplink only TRP, which does not transmit downlink transmissions; and sending (230) a transmission to one of the first TRP and second TRP based on the indication in the received PDCCH.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmission is a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) transmission.

3. The method of any one of claims 1 to 2, further comprising receiving a configuration for the first TRP or the second TRP, the configuration comprising one or more of the following: intra-distributed unit (DU) symmetrical multi TRP (mTRP); inter-DU symmetrical mTRP; intra-DU asymmetrical mTRP.

4. The method of any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the indication further indicates transmission parameters for the first TRP or the second TRP.

5. The method of any one of claims 2 to 4, further comprising determining parameters associated with the PRACH transmission.

6. The method of any one of claim 4 or 5, wherein the transmission parameters comprise one or more of a spatial filter, a Pathloss Reference Signal (PL-RS), a PL offset, a downlink (DL) reference timing, an uplink time alignment.

7. The method of any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the indication is a PRACH association indicator.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the PRACH association indicator is 1 bit and is set to 0 to indicate that the transmission is destined to the first TRP.

9. The method of claim 7 or 8, wherein the PRACH association indicator is 1 bit and is set to 1 to indicate that the transmission is destined to the second TRP.

10. A method (300) performed by a network node (610, 800), configured with a first Transmit and Receive Point (TRP) and a second TRP, for communicating with a wireless device, the method comprising: sending (310) a configuration of a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) order, tothe wireless device; sending (320) the PDCCH order to the wireless device, wherein the PDCCH order comprises an indication that a transmission is either destined to the first TRP or the second TRP, wherein the second TRP is an uplink only TRP, which does not transmit downlink transmissions; and receiving (330) a transmission from the wireless device for either the first TRP or second TRP, based on the indication.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the transmission is a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) transmission.

12. The method of any one of claims 10 to 11, further comprising sending a configuration for the first TRP or the second TRP, the configuration comprising one or more of the following: intra-distributed unit (DU) symmetrical multi TRP (mTRP); inter-DU symmetrical mTRP; intra-DU asymmetrical mTRP.

13. The method of any one of claims 10 to 12, wherein the indication further indicates transmission parameters for the first TRP or the second TRP.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the transmission parameters comprise one or more of a spatial filter, a Pathloss Reference Signal (PL-RS), a PL offset, a downlink (DL) reference timing, an uplink time alignment.

15. The method of any one of claims 10 to 14, wherein the indication is a PRACH association indicator.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the PRACH association indicator is 1 bit and is set to 0 to indicate that the transmission is destined to the first TRP.

17. The method of claim 15 or 16, wherein the PRACH association indicator is 1 bit and is set to 1 to indicate that the transmission is destined to the second TRP.

18. A wireless device (612, 700) configured with a first Transmit and Receive Point (TRP) and a second TRP, comprising a network interface and processing circuitry connected thereto, the processing circuitry configured to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 9.

19. A network node (610, 800) configured with a first Transmit and Receive Point (TRP) and a second TRP, the network node comprising a network interface and processing circuitry connected thereto, the processing circuitry configured to perform the method of any one of claims 10 to 17.

20. A computer program product comprising a computer readable memory storing computer executable instructions thereon that when executed by a computer perform any one of the methods of any one of claims 1 to 17.

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