TCI enhancements for asymmetric TRP operation

Abstract

An apparatus configured to process, based on signals received from a network, transmission configuration indication (TCI) state configuration information corresponding to an asymmetric transmission reception point (TRP) arrangement comprising a first TRP configured for downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) communication and a second TRP configured for UL communication, perform a TCI state switch corresponding to one or more TRPs in the asymmetric TRP arrangement and generate a UL transmission for one or more of the TRPs in the asymmetric TRP arrangement.

Description

Attorney Docket No. 30164 / 100302Ref. No. P69921WO1TCI Enhancements for Asymmetric TRP OperationInventors: Manasa Raghavan, Haitong Sun, Jie Cui, Xiang Chen, Weidong Yang and Yang TangPriori ty / Incorporation By Reference

[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Serial No. 63 / 716,337 filed on November 5, 2024, entitled "TCI Enhancements for Asymmetric TRP Operation, " the entirety of which is incorporated by reference herein.Background

[0002] A user equipment (UE) may connect to a network via a base station. The base station may control multiple transmission and reception points (TRPs) . The UE may operate in multi-TRP (mTRP) mode where the UE establishes and maintains a connection with multiple TRPs at the same time.

[0003] In some scenarios, the mTRP operation may be asymmetric with respect to a UE . For example, there may be a scenario where the UE is communicating with two TRPs. The UE may have uplink (UL) communications with both TRPs but only downlink (DL) communications with one of the TRPs. This type of arrangement may be referred to as asymmetric TRP operation.

[0004] For a variety of different reasons, it has been identified that various legacy transmission configuration indication (TCI) state mechanisms may not be compatible with asymmetric TRP operation. Accordingly, there exists a need for TCI state enhancements configured to support asymmetric TRP operation .Attorney Docket No. 30164 / 100302Ref. No. P69921WO1Summary

[0005] Some example embodiments are related to an apparatus having processing circuitry coupled to memory, the processing circuitry configured to process, based on signals received from a network, transmission configuration indication (TCI) state configuration information corresponding to an asymmetric transmission reception point (TRP) arrangement comprising a first TRP configured for downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) communication and a second TRP configured for UL communication, perform a TCI state switch corresponding to one or more TRPs in the asymmetric TRP arrangement and generate a UL transmission for one or more of the TRPs in the asymmetric TRP arrangement .

[0006] Other example embodiments are related to a method, for processing, based on signals received from a network, transmission configuration indication (TCI) state configuration information corresponding to an asymmetric transmission reception point (TRP) arrangement comprising a first TRP configured for downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) communication and a second TRP configured for UL communication, performing a TCI state switch corresponding to one or more TRPs in the asymmetric TRP arrangement and generating a UL transmission for one or more of the TRPs in the asymmetric TRP arrangement.Brief Description of the Drawings

[0007] Fig. 1 shows an example network arrangement according to various example embodiments.Attorney Docket No. 30164 / 100302Ref. No. P69921W01

[0008] Fig. 2 shows an example user equipment (UE) according to various example embodiments.

[0009] Fig. 3 shows an example base station according to various example embodiments.

[0010] Fig. 4 shows an example system arrangement where a UE is communicating with an asymmetric transmission reception point (TRP) arrangement according to various example embodiments.

[0011] Fig. 5 shows a method for performing a transmission configuration indication (TCI) state switch according to various example embodiments.

[0012] Fig. 6 shows an example abstract syntax notation one(ASN.l) for a repurposed TCI-UL-State-rl7 IE according to various example embodiments.Detailed Description

[0013] The exemplary embodiments may be further understood with reference to the following description and the related appended drawings, wherein like elements are provided with the same reference numerals. The example embodiments introduce transmission configuration indication (TCI) state enhancements for asymmetric transmission reception point (TRP) operation.

[0014] The example embodiments are described with regard to a user equipment (UE) . However, reference to a UE is merely provided for illustrative purposes. The example embodiments may be utilized with any electronic component that may establish a connection to a network and is configured with the hardware, software, and / or firmware to exchange information and data withAttorney Docket No. 30164 / 100302Ref. No. P69921WO1 the network. Therefore, the UE as described herein is used to represent any appropriate type of electronic component.

[0015] The example embodiments are also described with regard to a fifth generation (5G) New Radio (NR) network and a next generation node B (gNB) . However, reference to a 5G NR network and a gNB is merely provided for illustrative purposes. The example embodiments may be utilized with any appropriate type of network (e.g., 5G Advanced, sixth generation (6G) , etc.) and base station.

[0016] The gNB may be configured with multiple transmission and reception points (TRPs) . Throughout this description, a TRP generally refers to a set of components configured to transmit and / or receive a beam. In some embodiments, multiple TRPs may be deployed locally at the gNB. For example, the gNB may include multiple antenna arrays / panels that are each configured to generate a different beam. In other embodiments, multiple TRPs may be deployed at various different locations and connected to the gNB via a backhaul connection. For example, multiple small cells may be deployed at different locations and connected to the gNB. However, these examples are merely provided for illustrative purposes. TRPs are configured to be adaptable to a wide variety of different conditions and deployment scenarios. Thus, any reference to a TRP being a particular network component or multiple TRPs being deployed in a particular arrangement is merely provided for illustrative purposes. The TRPs described herein may represent any type of network component configured to transmit and / or receive a beam.

[0017] The mTRP operation may be asymmetric with respect to the UE . For example, consider a scenario in which the UE isAttorney Docket No. 30164 / 100302Ref. No. P69921WO1 communicating with two TRPs. The UE may have uplink (UL) communications with both TRPs but only downlink (DL) communication with one of the TRPs. Throughout this description, asymmetric TRP operation may refer to a scenario in which the UE is configured with a single DL TRP and multiple UL TRPs or any other configuration in which the UE has a different number of DL and UL TRPs. However, reference to asymmetric TRP operation is merely provided for illustrative purposes. Different entities may refer to a similar concept by a different name.

[0018] The example embodiments are also described with regard to TCI . The TCI may refer to a parameter that indicates a transmission configuration for the UE, e.g., number of layers, modulation and coding scheme (MCS) , etc. A TCI state may be specific to the UL or the DL or may be a joint TCI state that applies to both the UL and DL . As will be described in detail below, the example embodiments introduce TCI state enhancements to support asymmetric TRP operation.

[0019] Fig. 1 shows an example network arrangement 100 according to various example embodiments. The example network arrangement 100 includes a UE 110. The UE 110 may be any type of electronic component that is configured to communicate via a network, e.g. , mobile phones, tablet computers, desktop computers, smartphones, phablets, embedded devices, wearables, Internet of Things (loT) devices, etc. An actual network arrangement may include any number of UEs being used by any number of users. Thus, the example of a single UE 110 is merely provided for illustrative purposes.

[0020] The UE 110 may be configured to communicate with one or more networks. In the example of the network arrangement 100,Attorney Docket No. 30164 / 100302Ref. No. P69921WO1 the network with which the UE 110 may wirelessly communicate is a 5G NR radio access network (RAN) 120. However, the UE 110 may also communicate with other types of networks (e.g. , 6G RAN, 5G cloud RAN, a next generation RAN (NG-RAN) , a long-term evolution (LTE) RAN, a legacy cellular network, a wireless local area network (WLAN) , etc. ) and the UE 110 may also communicate with networks over a wired connection. With regard to the example embodiments, the UE 110 may establish a connection with the 5G NR RAN 120. Therefore, the UE 110 may have at least a 5G NR chipset to communicate with the 5G NR RAN 120.

[0021] The 5G NR RAN 120 may be a portion of a cellular network that may be deployed by a network carrier (e.g., Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, etc. ) . The 5G NR RAN 120 may include base stations or access nodes (Node Bs, eNodeBs, HeNBs, eNBS, gNBs, gNodeBs, macrocells, microcells, small cells, femtocells, etc. ) that are configured to send and receive traffic from UEs that are equipped with the appropriate cellular chip set.

[0022] In the network arrangement 100, the 5G NR RAN 120 deploys a gNB 120A. The gNB 120A may be configured with multiple TRPs. Each TRP may represent one or more components configured to transmit and / or receive a signal. In some embodiments, multiple TRPs may be deployed locally at the gNB 120A. In other embodiments, multiple TRPs may be distributed at different locations and connected to the gNB 120A via a backhaul connection. For example, multiple small cells may be deployed at different locations and connected to the gNB 120A. However, these examples are merely provided for illustrative purposes. TRPs are configured to be adaptable to a wide variety of different conditions and deployment scenarios. Thus, any reference to a TRP being a particular network component orAttorney Docket No. 30164 / 100302Ref. No. P69921W01 multiple TRPs being deployed in a particular arrangement is merely provided for illustrative purposes. The TRPs described herein may represent any type of network component configured to transmit and / or receive a beam.

[0023] Any association procedure may be performed for the UE 110 to connect to the 5G NR RAN 120. For example, as discussed above, the 5G NR RAN 120 may be associated with a particular cellular provider where the UE 110 and / or the user thereof has a contract and credential information (e.g., stored on a SIM card) . Upon detecting the presence of the 5G NR RAN 120, the UE 110 may transmit the corresponding credential information to associate with the 5G NR RAN 120. More specifically, the UE 110 may associate with a specific base station, e.g., the gNB 120A.

[0024] The network arrangement 100 also includes a cellular core network 130, the Internet 140, an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) 150, and a network services backbone 160. The cellular core network 130 may refer to an interconnected set of components that manages the operation and traffic of the cellular network. It may include the evolved packet core (EPC) and / or the 5G core (5GC) . The cellular core network 130 also manages the traffic that flows between the cellular network and the Internet 140. The IMS 150 may be generally described as an architecture for delivering multimedia services to the UE 110 using the IP protocol. The IMS 150 may communicate with the cellular core network 130 and the Internet 140 to provide the multimedia services to the UE 110. The network services backbone 160 is in communication either directly or indirectly with the Internet 140 and the cellular core network 130. The network services backbone 160 may be generally described as aAttorney Docket No. 30164 / 100302Ref. No. P69921WO1 set of components (e.g., servers, network storage arrangements, etc.) that implement a suite of services that may be used to extend the functionalities of the UE 110 in communication with the various networks .

[0025] Fig. 2 shows an example UE 110 according to various example embodiments. The UE 110 will be described with regard to the network arrangement 100 of Fig. 1. The UE 110 may include a processor 205, a memory arrangement 210, a display device 215, an input / output (I / O) device 220, a transceiver 225 and other components 230. The other components 230 may include, for example, an audio input device, an audio output device, a power supply, a data acguisition device, ports to electrically connect the UE 110 to other electronic devices, etc.

[0026] The processor 205 may be configured to execute a plurality of engines of the UE 110. For example, the engines may include an asymmetric TRP engine 235 that may perform various operations related to asymmetric TRP operation. To provide some general examples, the asymmetric TRP engine 235 may perform operations such as, but not limited to, receiving unified TCI state configuration information, receiving activation / deactivation signals for joint TCI states, receiving activation / deactivation signals for separate TCI states and performing a TCI state switch.

[0027] The above referenced engine 235 being applications (e.g., a program) executed by the processor 205 is merely provided for illustrative purposes. The functionality associated with the engine 235 may also be represented as a separate incorporated component of the UE 110 or may be a modular component coupled to the UE 110, e.g., an integrated circuitAttorney Docket No. 30164 / 100302Ref. No. P69921WO1 with or without firmware. For example, the integrated circuit may include input circuitry to receive signals and processing circuitry to process the signals and other information. The engine may also be embodied as one application or separate applications. In addition, in some UEs, the functionality described for the processor 205 is split among two or more processors such as a baseband processor and an applications processor. The example embodiments may be implemented in any of these or other configurations of a UE .

[0028] The memory arrangement 210 may be a hardware component configured to store data related to operations performed by the UE 110. The display device 215 may be a hardware component configured to show data to a user while the I / O device 220 may be a hardware component that enables the user to enter inputs. The display device 215 and the I / O device 220 may be separate components or integrated together such as a touchscreen .

[0029] The transceiver 225 may be a hardware component configured to establish a connection with the 5G NR-RAN 120, an LTE-RAN (not pictured) , a legacy RAN (not pictured) , a WLAN (not pictured) , etc. Accordingly, the transceiver 225 may operate on a variety of different frequencies or channels (e.g. , set of consecutive frequencies) . The transceiver 225 includes circuitry configured to transmit and / or receive signals (e.g. , control signals, data signals) . Such signals may be encoded with information implementing any one of the methods described herein. The processor 205 may be operably coupled to the transceiver 225 and configured to receive from and / or transmit signals to the transceiver 225. The processor 205 may be configured to encode, decode and / or process signals (e.g. ,Attorney Docket No. 30164 / 100302Ref. No. P69921W01 signaling from a base station of a network) for implementing any one of the methods described herein.

[0030] In the example of Fig. 2, the processor 205 and the RF circuitry (e.g., transceiver 225) are illustrated as separate components. However, in some example embodiments, the RF circuitry and the processing circuitry may be integrated into the same chip, e.g., a system on chip that includes a baseband processor and RF circuitry.

[0031] Fig. 3 shows an example base station 300 according to various example embodiments. The base station 300 may represent the gNB 120A or any other type of access node through which the UE 110 may establish a connection and manage network operations .

[0032] The base station 300 may include a processor 305, a memory arrangement 310, an input / output (I / O) device 315, a transceiver 320, multiple TRPs 330 and other components 325. The other components 325 may include, for example, an audio input device, an audio output device, a battery, a data acquisition device, ports to electrically connect the base station 300 to other electronic devices and / or power sources, transceiver chains, antenna elements, antenna panels, etc.

[0033] As indicated above, in some scenarios, the multiple TRPs 330 may be deployed locally at the base station 300. In other scenarios, one or more of the multiple TRPs 330 may be deployed at physical locations remote from the base station 300 and connected to the base station via a backhaul connection. The base station 300 may be configured to control the multiple TRPs 330 and perform operations such as, but not limited to,Attorney Docket No. 30164 / 100302Ref. No. P69921WO1 assigning resources, configuring reference signals, implementing beam management techniques, etc.

[0034] The processor 305 may be configured to execute a plurality of engines for the base station 300. For example, the engines may include an asymmetric TRP configuration engine 335 that may perform various operations related to asymmetric TRP operation. To provide some general examples, the asymmetric TRP configuration engine 335 may perform operations such as, but not limited to, sending unified TCI state configuration information to the UE 110, sedning activation / deact ivation signals for joint TCI states to the UE 110 and sending activation / deactivation signals for separate TCI states to the UE 110.

[0035] The above noted engine 335 being applications (e.g., a program) executed by the processor 305 is only an example. The functionality associated with the engine 335 may also be represented as a separate incorporated component of the base station 300 or may be a modular component coupled to the base station 300, e.g., an integrated circuit with or without firmware. For example, the integrated circuit may include input circuitry to receive signals and processing circuitry to process the signals and other information. In addition, in some base stations, the functionality described for the processor 305 is split among a plurality of processors (e.g., a baseband processor, an applications processor, etc.) . The example embodiments may be implemented in any of these or other configurations of a base station.

[0036] The memory arrangement 310 may be a hardware component configured to store data related to operations performed by the base station 300. The I / O device 315 may be a hardwareAttorney Docket No. 30164 / 100302Ref. No. P69921WO1 component or ports that enable a user to interact with the base station 300.

[0037] The transceiver 320 may be a hardware component configured to exchange data with the UE 110 and any other UEs in the network arrangement 100. The transceiver 320 may operate on a variety of different frequencies or channels (e.g., set of consecutive frequencies) . Therefore, the transceiver 320 may include one or more components to enable the data exchange with the various networks and UEs. The transceiver 320 includes circuitry configured to transmit and / or receive signals (e.g., control signals, data signals) . Such signals may be encoded with information implementing any one of the methods described herein. The processor 305 may be operably coupled to the transceiver 320 and configured to receive from and / or transmit signals to the transceiver 320. The processor 305 may be configured to encode, decode and / or signals (e.g., signaling from a UE) for implementing any one of the methods described herein .

[0038] In the example of Fig. 3, the processor 305 and the RE circuitry (e.g., transceiver 320) are illustrated as separate components. However, in some example embodiments, the RE circuitry and the processing circuitry may be integrated into the same chip, e.g., a system on chip that includes a baseband processor and RE circuitry.

[0039] Fig. 4 shows an example system arrangement 400 where a UE 110 is communicating with an asymmetric TRP arrangement according to various example embodiments. In the example of Fig. 4, the UE 110 is communicating with a first TRP 410 and a second TRP 420. The UE 110 may communicate in both the DL and UL withAttorney Docket No. 30164 / 100302Ref. No. P69921W01 the TRP 410. However, the UE 110 may only communicate in the UL with the TRP 420. The TRPs 410 and 420 may be associated with a base station (e.g., base station 300) that may be a serving cell for the UE 110 in this scenario.

[0040] The TCI state used for an UL transmission may be a joint DL and UL TCI state or a TCI state that only applies to the UL . The reference signal (RS) for a joint TCI state may be a channel state information (CSI)-RS, synchronization signal block (SSB) or any other appropriate type of RS. The RS for a UL specific TCI state may be CSI-RS, SSB, sounding reference signal (SRS) or any other appropriate type of RS.

[0041] In the asymmetric TRP arrangement shown in Fig. 4, the UE 110 is communicating with the TRP 420 only in the UL. Since there is no DL communication between the UE 110 and the TRP 420, there are no DL RS available to use for an UL specific TCI state. Therefore, various legacy TCI state mechanisms may not be compatible with an asymmetric TRP arrangement. Accordingly, there is a need for TCI state enhancements to support asymmetric TRP operation.

[0042] Fig. 5 shows a method 500 for performing a TCI state switch according to various example embodiments. The method 500 provides a general overview of a scenario during which various example embodiments may be used. The example embodiments introduce enhancements for unified TCI state configuration, unified TCI state activation / deactivation and unified TCI state switching. Each of the example embodiments may be used independently from one another, in conjunction with currently implemented TCI state mechanisms, future implementations of TCI state mechanisms and independently from other TCI state mechanisms. These and other example embodiments are described inAttorney Docket No. 30164 / 100302Ref. No. P69921W01 greater detail below.

[0043] The method 500 is described from the perspective of the UE 110 configured to communicate with the asymmetric TRP arrangement shown in Fig. 4. However, the method 500 is not limited to the asymmetric TRP arrangement shown in Fig. 4. The example embodiments may apply to any appropriate type of asymmetric TRP arrangement.

[0044] In 510, the UE 110 receives TCI state configuration information from a network. The TCI state configuration information may be provided in downlink control information (DCI) , a radio resource control (RRC) message, a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) , any combination thereof or in any other appropriate type of message.

[0045] In this example, the TCI state configuration information may include configuration information for one or more TCI states corresponding to a first TRP and one or more TCI states corresponding to a second TRP. In this example, the UE 110 may be configured to communicate with the first TRP in both the UL and DL (e.g. , TRP 410) and the second TRP in only the UL (e.g. , TRP 420) .

[0046] As indicated above, there is no DL communication between the UE 110 and an UL only TRP in an asymmetric TRP arrangement. Therefore, a joint TCI state may not be configured for communication with the UL only TRP. In some conventional configurations, the UE 110 may use an UL specific TCI state to communicate with a TRP based on DL RS (e.g., CSI-RS, SSB, etc. ) provided by that TRP. However, since there is no DL communication between the UE 110 and an UL only TRP in an asymmetric TRP arrangement, there is no CSI-RS or SSB from theAttorney Docket No . 30164 / 100302Ref . No . P69921W01 available to be used for the UL TCI state .

[0047] In one example embodiment , since the UL only TRP does not provide DL RS , the UE 110 may use a DL RS from another TRP in the asymmetric TRP arrangement as the basis for the UL TCI state that is used to communicate with the UL only TRP . However, in certain scenarios , DL RS from the other TRP in the asymmetric TRP arrangement may not be used for UL TCI state corresponding to the UL only TRP . For example , DL RS from the other TRP in the asymmetric TRP arrangement may not be used for beam indication in freguency range 2 ( FR2 ) .

[0048] In another example embodiment, the UE 110 may be configured to use SRS corresponding to the UL only TRP as the basis for determining which TCI state is to be used for the UL only TRP . To restrict the UE 110 to SRS for the UL TCI state corresponding to the UL only TRP, the network may only include SRS resource information in the TCI state configuration information corresponding to the UL only TRP . In addition, the TCI state configuration information may include a pathloss of fset parameter for determining the UL TCI state for the UL only TRP .

[0049] According to some aspects , a TCI-UL-State-rl 7 information element ( IE ) may be repurposed to provide at least part of the TCI state configuration information for the UL only TRP in the asymmetric TRP arrangement . This may include adding a pathloss of fset IE to TCI-UL-State-rl 7 . In addition, the ssb- Index-rl 7 parameter and the csi-RS- Index-rl7 parameter of the ref erenceSignal-r 17 IE may each be omitted, empty or associated with any other appropriate type of indication indicating that these parameters are not configured for the UL only TRP . This would leave the ref erenceSignal-R17 IE with only an srs-rl 7Attorney Docket No. 30164 / 100302Ref. No. P69921W01 parameter and thus, restrict the UE 110 to only SRS resources for the TCI state corresponding to the UL only TRP. In addition, an additionalPCI-rl7 IE of TCI-UL-State-rl7 may be omitted, empty or associated with any other appropriate type of indication indicating that this parameter is not configured for the UL only TRP.

[0050] Fig. 6 shows an example abstract syntax notation one (ASN.l) for a repurposed TCI-UL-State-rl7 IE according to various example embodiments. There is a dotted line around the parameters ssb-Index-rl7 , csi-RS-Index-rl7 and additionalPCI-r 17 to illustrate that these parameters may be omitted, empty or associated with any other appropriate type of indication indicating that these parameters are not configured for the UL only TRP. Additionally, the parameter pathlossOf f set-rl9 is added to TCI-UL-State-rl7 IE and may be used to determine the pathloss for UL transmission corresponding to the UL only TRP.

[0051] According to some aspects, a new IE may be introduced to configure the TCI state for an UL only TRP in an asymmetric TRP arrangement. The new IE may include parameters such as, but not limited to, a TCI state ID, a serving cell ID, a bandwidth part (BWP) ID, SRS resource ID, UL power control, pathloss RS ID, pathloss offset and a tracking area group ID. The new IE may restrict the UE 110 to use SRS for to determine the TCI state of the UL only TRP.

[0052] In 515, the UE 110 receives a unified TCI state activation command. The TCI state activation command may be a MAC CE or any other appropriate type of message used to activate / deactivate one or more TCI states associated with the asymmetric TRP arrangement.Attorney Docket No. 30164 / 100302Ref. No. P69921W01

[0053] In Release-18 (Rel-18) , to support unified TCI state for single DCI mTRP operation, a MAC CE was introduced to configure joint TCI states and a MAC CE was introduced to configure separate UL and DL TCI states. However, there is no unified TCI state MAC CE for single DCI mTRP operation that is able to configure an asymmetric TRP arrangement where a first TRP supports UL and DL communication and a second TRP is an UL only TRP.

[0054] The example embodiments introduce a MAC CE that may be used for TCI state activation or indication that supports an asymmetric TRP arrangement where a first TRP supports UL and DL communication and a second TRP is an UL only TRP. The example MAC CE may configure a first TRP with a joint TCI state and a second TRP with an UL specific TCI state. Compared to the legacy Rel-18 approach described above, using a single MAC CE to configure the first TRP with a joint TCI state and a second TRP with an UL specific TCI state reduced signaling overhead. However, this example MAC CE is not limited to a combination of joint TCI and UL specific TCI and may also configure the first TRP with separate UL and DL TCI states and the second TRP with an UL specific TCI state.

[0055] According to some aspects, the example MAC CE may activate a joint TCI state configured with one codepoint for a first TRP and UL TCI state with one codepoint for the UL only TRP. In another example, the example MAC CE may activate one TCI codepoint for a DL TCI state for the first TRP, the first TCI codepoint for an UL TCI state for the first TRP and the second TCI code point for an UL TCI state for the second UL only TRP.

[0056] In 520, the UE 110 performs a TCI state switch based on the unified TCI state activation command. As indicated above,Attorney Docket No . 30164 / 100302Ref . No . P69921WO1 the UE 110 may be configured with one or more TCI state configurations for a serving cell based on the TCI state configuration information received in 510 . The UE 110 may complete the switch of an active TCI state within a TCI state switching delay time .

[0057] For MAC CE based TCI state switch, the TCI state switching delay time may be based on components such as , but not limited to, a MAC CE decoding delay, layer 1 ( LI ) -ref erence signal received power (RSRP) measurement , a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) , and pathloss ( PL) -RS measurement . The delay for HARQ may be represented by the parameter THARQ indicating a timing between a DL data transmission and an UL acknowledgement . The MAC CE decoding time may be represented by a constant time of 3 milliseconds (ms ) . However, the example embodiments are not limited to 3 ms and any appropriate time may be used to account for the MAC CE decoding delay .

[0058] Ll-RSRP measurement may be included in the TCI state switching delay i f the beam is not known . When the TCI state is based in DL RS , a known condition is defined . When the TCI state is based on SRS , a known condition may not be defined and the UE 110 may assume that the beam is known . When PL-RS measurement is not maintained, a same PL-RS may be configured for both TRPs in the asymmetric TRP arrangement . In addition, the delay may also include a 2 ms delay to account for UE 110 processing and application time after PL RS measurement or time frequency of fset . Further, pathloss may also account for the parameter NM where NM — 1 if the pathloss reference signal is not maintained and NM = 0 otherwise because i f pathloss RS is no maintained the UE 110 may need additional time for the PL RS measurement .Attorney Docket No. 30164 / 100302Ref. No. P69921WO1

[0059] According to some examples, when there is a single UL TCI state switch based on SRS, the TCI state switching delay may be defined based on the following equation: THARQ +

[0060] According to some examples, when there a first TCI state is switched based on DL RS, the DL RS is unknown and a second TCI state is switched based on SRS, the TCI state switching delay may be defined based on the following equation:

[0061] According to some examples, when there a first TCI state is switched based on DL RS, the DL RS is known and a second TCI state is switched based on SRS, the TCI state switching delay may be defined based on the following equation:

[0062] According to some examples, when there a first TCI state is switched based on SRS and a second TCI state is switched based on SRS, the TCI state switching delay may be defined based on the following equation: THARQ + 3 ms + NM *

[0063] According to some examples, when there a single TCI state switch based on SRS, the TCI state switching delay may be defined based on the following equation: THARQ+ 3 ms + NM *

[0064] In 525, the UE 110 performs an UL transmission to the asymmetric TRP arrangement. For example, after the UE 110 performs the TCI state switch, the UE 110 may use the one orAttorney Docket No. 30164 / 100302 Ref. No. P69921WO1 more TCI states indicated by the TCI state activation command to communicate with the UL only TRP and / or the UL and DL TRP.Examples

[0065] In a first example, a method, comprising processing, based on signals received from a network, transmission configuration indication (TCI) state configuration information corresponding to an asymmetric transmission reception point (TRP) arrangement comprising a first TRP configured for downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) communication and a second TRP configured for UL communication, performing a TCI state switch corresponding to one or more TRPs in the asymmetric TRP arrangement and generating a UL transmission for one or more of the TRPs in the asymmetric TRP arrangement.

[0066] In a second example, the method of the first example, wherein the TCI state configuration information includes an UL TCI state information element (IE) for the second TRP, the UL TCI state IE comprising a pathloss offset parameter.

[0067] In a third example, the method of the second example, wherein the UL TCI state IE further comprises sounding reference signal (SRS) resource configuration information and an indication that synchronization signal block (SSB) resources and channel state information (CSI ) -ref erence signal (RS) resources are not configured.

[0068] In a fourth example, the method of the second example, wherein the UL TCI state IE further comprises sounding reference signal (SRS) resource configuration information and excludes synchronization signal block (SSB) and channel state information (CSI ) -ref erence signal (RS) configuration information.Attorney Docket No. 30164 / 100302Ref. No. P69921WO1

[0069] In a fifth example, the method of the first example, further comprising processing, based on signals received from the network, a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) configured to indicate one or more TCI states for the first TRP and the second TRP.

[0070] In a sixth example, the method of the fifth example, wherein the one or more TCI states includes a joint TCI state for the first TRP and a separate UL TCI state for the second TRP.

[0071] In a seventh example, the method of the sixth example, wherein a first TCI code point indicates the joint TCI state for the first TRP.

[0072] In an eighth example, the method of the fifth example, wherein the one or more TCI states includes a separate DL TCI state for the first TRP, a separate UL TCI state for the first TRP and the second TRP.

[0073] In a ninth example, the method of the eighth example, wherein a first TCI codepoint indicates the separate DL TCI state for the first TRP and a second TCI codepoint indicates the separate UL TCI state for the second TRP.

[0074] In a tenth example, the method of the first example, wherein the TCI state switch includes switching a single UL TCI state based on sounding reference signal (SRS) and a TCI state switching delay for the TCI state switch is based on a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) decoding delay and pathloss (PL) reference signal (RS) measurement.Attorney Docket No. 30164 / 100302Ref. No. P69921WO1

[0075] In an eleventh example, the method of the first example, wherein the TCI state switch includes switching a first UL TCI state for the first TRP based on downlink (DL) reference signal (RS) and a second UL TCI state for the second TRP based on sounding reference signal (SRS) and a TCI state switching delay for the TCI state switch is based on a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) decoding delay and pathloss (PL) reference signal (RS) measurement.

[0076] In a twelfth example, the method of the first example, wherein the TCI state switch includes switching a first UL TCI state for the first TRP based on downlink (DL) reference signal (RS) and a second UL TCI state for the second TRP based on sounding reference signal (SRS) and a TCI state switching delay for the TCI state switch is based on a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) decoding delay, layer 1 (Ll) - reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement and pathloss (PL) reference signal (RS) measurement.

[0077] In a thirteenth example, the method of the first example, wherein the TCI state switch includes switching a first UL TCI state for the first TRP based on sounding reference signal (SRS) and a second UL TCI state for the second TRP based on SRS and a TCI state switching delay for the TCI state switch is based on a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) decoding delay and pathloss (PL) reference signal (RS) measurement .

[0078] In a fourteenth example, the method of the first example, wherein the TCI state switch includes switching an UL TCI state for the second TRP based on SRS and a TCI stateAttorney Docket No. 30164 / 100302Ref. No. P69921WO1 switching delay for the TCI state switch is based on a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) decoding delay and pathloss (PL) reference signal (RS) measurement.

[0079] In a fifteenth example, a processor configured to perform any of the methods of the first through fourteenth examples .

[0080] In a sixteenth example, a user equipment (UE) configured to perform any of the methods of the first through fourteenth examples.

[0081] Those skilled in the art will understand that the above-described example embodiments may be implemented in any suitable software or hardware configuration or combination thereof. An example hardware platform for implementing the example embodiments may include, for example, an Intel x86 based platform with compatible operating system, a Windows OS, a Mac platform and MAC OS, a mobile device having an operating system such as iOS, Android, etc. The example embodiments described above may be embodied as a program containing lines of code stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium that, when compiled, may be executed on a processor or microprocessor .

[0082] In some embodiments, a non-transitory computer- readable memory medium (e.g. , a non-transitory memory element) may be configured so that it stores program instructions and / or data, where the program instructions, if executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to perform a method, e.g., any of a method embodiments described herein, or, any combination of the method embodiments described herein, or, any subset of anyAttorney Docket No. 30164 / 100302Ref. No. P69921WO1 of the method embodiments described herein, or, any combination of such subsets.

[0083] In some embodiments, a device (e.g., a UE) may be configured to include a processor (or a set of processors) and a memory medium (or memory element) , where the memory medium stores program instructions, where the processor is configured to read and execute the program instructions from the memory medium, where the program instructions are executable to implement any of the various method embodiments described herein (or, any combination of the method embodiments described herein, or, any subset of any of the method embodiments described herein, or, any combination of such subsets) . The device may be realized in any of various forms.

[0084] Embodiments of the present invention may be realized in any of various forms. For example, in some embodiments, the present invention may be realized as a computer-implemented method, a computer-readable memory medium, or a computer system. In other embodiments, the present invention may be realized using one or more custom-designed hardware devices such as ASICs. In other embodiments, the present invention may be realized using one or more programmable hardware elements such as FPGAs.

[0085] Although this application described various embodiments each having different features in various combinations, those skilled in the art will understand that any of the features of one embodiment may be combined with the features of the other embodiments in any manner not specifically disclaimed or which is not functionally or logicallyAttorney Docket No. 30164 / 100302Ref. No. P69921WO1 inconsistent with the operation of the device or the stated functions of the disclosed embodiments.

[0086] It is well understood that the use of personally identifiable information should follow privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or governmental requirements for maintaining the privacy of users. In particular, personally identifiable information data should be managed and handled so as to minimize risks of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of authorized use should be clearly indicated to users.

[0087] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made in the present disclosure, without departing from the spirit or the scope of the disclosure. Thus, it is intended that the present disclosure cover modifications and variations of this disclosure provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalent .

Claims

Attorney Docket No. 30164 / 100302Ref. No. P69921W01What is Claimed:

1. An apparatus comprising processing circuitry coupled to memory, the processing circuitry configured to: process, based on signals received from a network, transmission configuration indication (TCI) state configuration information corresponding to an asymmetric transmission reception point (TRP) arrangement comprising a first TRP configured for downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) communication and a second TRP configured for UL communication; perform a TCI state switch corresponding to one or more TRPs in the asymmetric TRP arrangement; and generate a UL transmission for one or more of the TRPs in the asymmetric TRP arrangement.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the TCI state configuration information includes an UL TCI state information element (IE) for the second TRP, the UL TCI state IE comprising a pathloss offset parameter.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the UL TCI state IE further comprises sounding reference signal (SRS) resource configuration information and an indication that synchronization signal block (SSB) resources and channel state information(CSI ) -ref erence signal (RS) resources are not configured.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the UL TCI state IE further comprises sounding reference signal (SRS) resource configuration information and excludes synchronization signal block (SSB) and channel state information (CSI ) -ref erence signal (RS) configuration information.Attorney Docket No. 30164 / 100302 Ref. No. P69921WO15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: process, based on signals received from the network, a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) configured to indicate one or more TCI states for the first TRP and the second TRP.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the one or more TCI states includes a joint TCI state for the first TRP and a separate UL TCI state for the second TRP.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein a first TCI code point indicates the joint TCI state for the first TRP.

8. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the one or more TCI states includes a separate DL TCI state for the first TRP, a separate UL TCI state for the first TRP and the second TRP.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein a first TCI codepoint indicates the separate DL TCI state for the first TRP and a second TCI codepoint indicates the separate UL TCI state for the second TRP.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the TCI state switch includes switching a single UL TCI state based on sounding reference signal (SRS) and a TCI state switching delay for the TCI state switch is based on a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) decoding delay and pathloss (PL) reference signal (RS) measurement.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the TCI state switch includes switching a first UL TCI state for the first TRP basedAttorney Docket No. 30164 / 100302Ref. No. P69921WO1 on downlink (DL) reference signal (RS) and a second UL TCI state for the second TRP based on sounding reference signal (SRS) and a TCI state switching delay for the TCI state switch is based on a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) decoding delay and pathloss (PL) reference signal (RS) measurement.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the TCI state switch includes switching a first UL TCI state for the first TRP based on downlink (DL) reference signal (RS) and a second UL TCI state for the second TRP based on sounding reference signal (SRS) and a TCI state switching delay for the TCI state switch is based on a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) decoding delay, layer 1 (LI ) -ref erence signal received power (RSRP) measurement and pathloss (PL) reference signal (RS) measurement.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the TCI state switch includes switching a first UL TCI state for the first TRP based on sounding reference signal (SRS) and a second UL TCI state for the second TRP based on SRS and a TCI state switching delay for the TCI state switch is based on a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) decoding delay and pathloss (PL) reference signal (RS) measurement.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the TCI state switch includes switching an UL TCI state for the second TRP based on SRS and a TCI state switching delay for the TCI state switch is based on a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) decoding delay and pathloss (PL) reference signal (RS) measurement .

15. A method, comprisingAttorney Docket No. 30164 / 100302Ref. No. P69921WO1 processing, based on signals received from a network, transmission configuration indication (TCI) state configuration information corresponding to an asymmetric transmission reception point (TRP) arrangement comprising a first TRP configured for downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) communication and a second TRP configured for UL communication; performing a TCI state switch corresponding to one or more TRPs in the asymmetric TRP arrangement; and generating a UL transmission for one or more of the TRPs in the asymmetric TRP arrangement.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the TCI state configuration information includes an UL TCI state information element (IE) for the second TRP, the UL TCI state IE comprising a pathloss offset parameter.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the UL TCI state IE further comprises sounding reference signal (SRS) resource configuration information and an indication that synchronization signal block (SSB) resources and channel state information (CSI ) -reference signal (RS) resources are not configured.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the UL TCI state IE further comprises sounding reference signal (SRS) resource configuration information and excludes synchronization signal block (SSB) and channel state information (CSI ) -ref erence signal (RS) configuration information.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising: processing, based on signals received from the network, a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) configured toAttorney Docket No. 30164 / 100302Ref. No. P69921WO1 indicate one or more TCI states for the first TRP and the second TRP.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the one or more TCI states includes a joint TCI state for the first TRP and a separate UL TCI state for the second TRP.

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