Facilitating UE-sided element(s) adaptation

Abstract

A UE obtains reference value(s) of a metric, wherein the reference value(s) of the metric corresponds to a configuration from a network. The UE determines a set of elements to be adjusted at the UE based on the reference value(s) of the metric. The UE performs adjustment of the set of elements. The UE transmits an indication to the network, wherein the indication relates to the adjustment of the set of elements. A network sends, to a UE, reference value(s) of a metric, wherein the reference value(s) of the metric corresponds to a configuration from the network and is to be used by the UE for adjustment of a set of elements at the UE. The network receives, from the user equipment, an indication relating to the adjustment of the set of elements.

Description

FACILITATING UE-SIDED ELEMENT(S) ADAPTATIONCROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0001] This application claims the benefit of US provisional application No. 63 / 733,747, filed December 13, 2024. The content of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] Examples of embodiments herein relate generally to wireless communications and, more specifically, relate to adapting elements, such as to reduce power usage, on a UE (user equipment) side for the wireless communication.BACKGROUND

[0003] According to the GSMA (GSM association, where GSM = Global System for Mobile Communications), mobile networks are responsible for approximately 0.4 percent of global emissions, with base station sites contributing over 80 percent of emissions during the use phase. Energy consumption is largely attributed to running idle resources and cooling systems. Therefore, the implementation of energy-efficient radio network products has the potential to significantly reduce emissions.

[0004] Furthermore, network energy consumption becomes increasingly critical with the rise in the number of antennas (e.g., 256) and resources (e.g., transmit power) required to support advanced applications in 6G (sixth generation) and beyond, such as 360° / holographic video streaming, VR (virtual reality) / XR (extended reality), digital twin / metaverse, and telesurgery. A digital twin is a virtual representation of an object or system designed to reflect a physical object accurately. The metaverse is a term referring to virtual worlds in which users represented by avatars interact, usually in 3D (three dimensions) and focused on social and economic connection. Telesurgery refers to remote surgery (also known as cybersurgery) and is the ability for a doctor to perform surgery on a patient even though they are not physically in the same location. The antennas on UEs for these systems have corresponding transmit chains and receive chains, meaning that many elements of circuitry are associated with transmission and reception.

[0005] These advanced uses of wireless communication are become more relevant. Therefore, how to deploy new solutions / algorithms to intelligently use antennas and corresponding elements to modify transmit power is urgent and receives great attention from operators.BRIEF SUMMARY

[0006] This section is intended to include examples and is not intended to be limiting.

[0007] In an example, a method is disclosed that includes obtaining, by a user equipment, at least one reference value of a metric, wherein the at least one reference value of the metric corresponds to a configuration from a network; determining, by the user equipment, a set of elements to be adjusted at the user equipment based on the at least one reference value of the metric; performing, by the user equipment, adjustment of the set of elements; and transmitting, by the user equipment, an indication to the network, wherein the indication relates to the adjustment of the set of elements.

[0008] An additional example includes a computer program, comprising instructions for performing the method of the previous paragraph, when the computer program is run on an apparatus. The computer program according to this paragraph, wherein the computer program is a computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium bearing the instructions embodied therein for use with the apparatus. Another example is the computer program according to this paragraph, wherein the program is directly loadable into an internal memory of the apparatus.

[0009] An example of an apparatus includes one or more processors and one or more memories storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus at least to perform: obtaining, by a user equipment, at least one reference value of a metric, wherein the at least one reference value of the metric corresponds to a configuration from a network; determining, by the user equipment, a set of elements to be adjusted at the user equipment based on the at least one reference value of the metric; performing, by the user equipment, adjustment of the set of elements; and transmitting, by the user equipment, an indication to the network, wherein the indication relates to the adjustment of the set of elements.

[0010] An example of a computer program product includes a computer-readable storage medium bearing instructions that, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following: obtaining, by a user equipment, at least one reference value of a metric, wherein the at least one reference value of the metric corresponds to a configuration from a network; determining, by the user equipment, a set of elements to be adjusted at the user equipment based on the at least one reference value of the metric; performing, by the user equipment, adjustment of the set of elements; and transmitting, by the user equipment, an indication to the network, wherein the indication relates to the adjustment of the set of elements.

[0011] In another example, an apparatus comprises means for: obtaining, by a user equipment, at least one reference value of a metric, wherein the at least one reference value of the metric corresponds to a configuration from a network; determining, by the user equipment, a set of elements to be adjusted at the user equipmentbased on the at least one reference value of the metric; performing, by the user equipment, adjustment of the set of elements; and transmitting, by the user equipment, an indication to the network, wherein the indication relates to the adjustment of the set of elements.

[0012] In an example, a method is disclosed that includes sending, from a network to a user equipment, at least one reference value of a metric, wherein the at least one reference value of the metric corresponds to a configuration from the network and is to be used by the user equipment for adjustment of a set of elements at the user equipment; and receiving, by the network from the user equipment, an indication relating to the adjustment of the set of elements.

[0013] An additional example includes a computer program, comprising instructions for performing the method of the previous paragraph, when the computer program is run on an apparatus. The computer program according to this paragraph, wherein the computer program is a computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium bearing the instructions embodied therein for use with the apparatus. Another example is the computer program according to this paragraph, wherein the program is directly loadable into an internal memory of the apparatus.

[0014] An example of an apparatus includes one or more processors and one or more memories storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus at least to perform: sending, from a network to a user equipment, at least one reference value of a metric, wherein the at least one reference value of the metric corresponds to a configuration from the network and is to be used by the user equipmentfor adjustment of a set of elements at the user equipment; and receiving, by the network from the user equipment, an indication relating to the adjustment of the set of elements.

[0015] An example of a computer program product includes a computer-readable storage medium bearing instructions that, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following: sending, from a network to a user equipment, at least one reference value of a metric, wherein the at least one reference value of the metric corresponds to a configuration from the network and is to be used by the user equipment for adjustment of a set of elements at the user equipment; and receiving, by the network from the user equipment, an indication relating to the adjustment of the set of elements.

[0016] In another example, an apparatus comprises means for: sending, from a network to a user equipment, at least one reference value of a metric, wherein the at least one reference value of the metric corresponds to a configuration from the network and is to be used by the user equipment for adjustment of a set of elements at the user equipment; and receiving, by the network from the user equipment, an indication relating to the adjustment of the set of elements.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017] The accompanying drawings use reference numerals, where the same reference numerals may be used to refer to like parts throughout, but parts having the same reference numeral can differ in operation and components. In the attached drawings:

[0018] FIG. 1 is a simple signal diagram illustrating communication between the UE (user equipment) and the network (NW) for facilitating UE-sided element(s) adaptation;

[0019] FIG. 1A is a more detailed signaling diagram illustrating a more specific example for facilitating UE-sided element(s) adaptation;

[0020] FIG. 2A is a flow diagram of a method performed by the user equipment for facilitating UE-sided element(s) adaptation;

[0021] FIG. 2B is a flow diagram of a method for facilitating UE-sided element(s) adaptation;

[0022] FIG. 3 illustrates a UE that is unfolded;

[0023] FIG. 4 illustrates the UE of FIG. 3 that is folded;

[0024] FIG. 5 illustrates the folded UE of FIG. 4 where some antennas and their corresponding reception chains are deactivated; and

[0025] FIG. 6 is a block diagram of one possible and non-limiting exemplary system in which the exemplary embodiments may be practiced.DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0026] Abbreviations that may be found in the specification and / or the drawing figures are defined below, at the end of the detailed description section.

[0027] The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any embodiment described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments. All of the embodiments described in this Detailed Description are exemplary embodiments provided to enable persons skilled in the art to make or use the examples.

[0028] When more than one drawing reference numeral, word, or acronym is used within this description with ”, and in general as used within this description, the 7” may be interpreted as “or”, “and”, or “both”. As used herein, “at least one of the following: ” and “at least one of ” and similar wording, where the list of two or more elements are joined by “and” or “or,” mean at least any one of the elements, or at least any two or more of the elements, or at least all the elements.

[0029] As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well,unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”, “comprising”, “has”, “having”, “includes” and / or “including”, when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and / or components etc., but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and / or combinations thereof.

[0030] It is noted that capital and lowercase words or phrases are considered to be the same herein. For instance, the words Slice, slice, and SLICE are the same, as are the phrases Network Repository Function, network repository function, and NETWORK REPOSITORY FUNCTION.

[0031] Any flow diagram or signaling diagram herein is considered to be a logic flow diagram, and illustrates the operation of an exemplary method, results of execution of computer program instructions embodied on a computer readable memory, and / or functions performed by logic implemented in circuitry. For methods, flow diagrams, and signaling diagrams, the orders of method steps, blocks in the flow, or signaling are not critical and instead are examples.

[0032] Technical context is now provided for technical areas related to the understanding of the examples. This is provided as brief overviews of possibly related technical areas.

[0033] Some technical context on CSI (channel state information), e.g., for measurement and reporting, framework is as follows. It is noted that the term “reporting” is used herein to provide context for both measurements and their reporting. CSI-RSs (CSI-reference signals) are UE-specifically configured in RRC. However, CSI-RS reference signals can be shared among many UEs, i.e. , multiple UEs are configured to receive the same resource elements (REs). A UE is a user equipment, a wireless and possibly mobile device that connects to a wireless network.

[0034] In general, in order to save on DL (downlink) resources, the gNB (e.g., an base station for 5G) would try to use cell-specific or group-specific CSI-RS resources. The worst case of DL overhead is with UE-specific CSI- RS, where the DL overhead increases linearly with the number of UEs in the cell.

[0035] CSI-RS has many functions in NR, e.g., including one or more of the following:

[0036] 1) CSI-RS for DL CSI acquisition;

[0037] 2) CSI-RS for beam management (BM) (based on L1-RSRP, layer 1- Reference Signal Received Power);

[0038] 3) CSI-RS for tracking (TRS, tracking reference signal); and / or

[0039] 4) UL (uplink) CSI acquisition in reciprocity-based UL precoding.

[0040] In some applications (e.g., CSI-RS for BM, beam management), CSI-RS are spatially beamformed into different directions. In general, a UE can be configured with up to 48 report configurations (e.g., using CSI- ReportConfig) per component carrier (CC), 4 per bandwidth part (BWP).

[0041] One CSI resource config (configuration) within one report configuration can be configured with up to 16 resource sets (aperiodic CSI) and one resource set (otherwise). In each CSI resource set, up to 64 NZP (Nonzero power) CSI-RS resources and 1 NZP-CSI-RS resource and up to 32 antenna ports may be configured.

[0042] For CSI acquisition, the UE is configured also with a codebook type. Given the measured channel across a CSI-RS resource, the UE can choose a determined codeword from the specified codebook, i.e., precoding matrix indicator (PMI), along with channel quality indicator (CQI), and rank indicator (Rl). The UE can also be configured to measure several CSI-RS resources (up to 8) within a resource set and report the determined resource, CSI-RS resource indicator (CRI), along with PMI, CQI and Rl which corresponds to that selected resource.

[0043] Aspects about time domain processing are described now. In the time domain, a CSI-RS resource may start at any OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing) symbol of a slot and the resource spans 1, 2, or 4 OFDM symbols depending on the number of ports configured.

[0044] Likewise, also the UE measurement reporting of CSI can be also operated with periodic, semi-persistent, or aperiodic manner, which is so-called report types in NR (new radio) report configuration. However, there are certain limitations, based on which the UE periodic report can operate only based on the configured periodic CSI- RS resource-set, the UE semi-persistent report can operate based on both configured periodic and semi- persistent CSI-RS resource-set, and finally the UE aperiodic report can operate based on all periodic, semi- persistent, and aperiodic CSI-RS resource-set. Shortly said:

[0045] 1) the periodic (P) CSI-RS resources can be used to generate any report type,

[0046] 2) the semi-persistent (SP) and periodic CSI-RS resources can be used to generate semi-persistent CSI reports, and

[0047] 3) the aperiodic (A) CSI-RS can only be utilized only to generate the aperiodic report.

[0048] Frequency-granularity is another topic of interest. The CSI Report Setting also defines which part of the bandwidth the CSI should correspond to, and in addition, what granularity in frequency the CSI should have. To accomplish this, the bandwidth of a BWP (bandwidth part) is divided into a number of subbands.

[0049] All CSI-RS resources within one set are configured with same density and same nrofPorts (number of ports), except for the NZP CSI-RS resources used for interference measurement. For semi-persistent and aperiodic CSI-RS, the actual triggering of CSI-RS transmission is per CSI-RS resource-set via either MAC CE (medium access control control element) or DCI (downlink control information). And a resource set can be used as part of UE report configurations describing what to be measured and, correspondingly, which measurement reporting are to be done by the UE. Specifically, if a CSI-RS resource-set is configured as ‘aperiodic’ by RRC, the CSI-RS resource set configuration includes a slot offset, aperiodicTriggeringOffset, which defines the timeinterval between the triggering DCI and the CSI-RS transmission.

[0050] For A-CSI reporting, up to 16 different reporting settings can be triggered with single DCI (e.g., for multiple component carriers) while SP-CSI reporting can trigger only one report setting with a single DCI. In order to trigger several SP-CSI reports (each in different slots), multiple DCIs are needed.

[0051] Another topic of interest involves a TCI (Transmission configuration indicator) state framework. In Rel- 17 (release 17), unified TCI framework was introduced, meaning that TCI states so far providing QCL (Quasi Co Location) assumptions for the reception of DL signals and channels would be used also to provide spatial sources for the transmission of UL signals and channels to determine UL TX (transmission) spatial filter.

[0052] Furthermore, the unified TCI framework defines the concept of activated codepoints and indicated TCI states. The activated codepoints contains a subset of the configured TCI states of up to 8 joint UL / DL (uplink / downlink) configured TCI states or up to 8 separate DL and UL configured TCI states. The gNB may indicate which of the activated codepoints to use by indicating a particular codepoint to the UE in DCI.

[0053] One or multiple (in case of multi-TRP, multi-transmission-reception point, for instance) of the configured TCI states is / are indicated TCI state(s) at a time. The indicated TCI state can be joint DL and UL TCI state or separate DL and separate UL TCI states. Indicated TCI state provides QCL source (DL) and spatial source (UL) for the set of downlink signals and channels and for the set of uplink signals and channels, respectively. In Rel- 17 there can be one indicated joint DL / UL TCI state, or one indicated DL and one indicated UL TCI state for the UE.

[0054] The unified TCI framework is extended in Rel-18 so that there can be multiple indicated DL and UL TCI states.

[0055] SRS (sounding reference signal) resource and SRS resource sets (Rel-15 NR) are described now. In brief, SRSs are signals sent by the UE to the network, which the network uses to determine properties of DL transmissions. SRSs are configured within an SRS resource set having one or more SRS resources. This configuration mechanism simplifies the activation (for semi-persistent SRS) and DCI triggering (for aperiodic SRS), since multiple resources can be triggered simultaneously. Several use cases have been identified for SRS, and thus the RRC configuration of an SRS resource set contains a parameter called “usage” (such as antennaSwitching, codebook, nonCodebook, and beamManagement).

[0056] The SRS supports up to four antenna ports, and SRS is designed to have low cubic metric, enabling efficient operation of the high-power amplifier. In general, the SRS can span 1, 2, or 4 consecutive OFDM symbols within the last six symbols of a slot. In the frequency domain, an SRS occasion has a comb structure, where the SRS is transmitted on every Nth subcarrier, where N = 2 or 4, referred to as comb-2 or comb-4. The SRS transmissions from different UEs can be frequency-multiplexed within the same frequency range usingdifferent comb patterns corresponding to different frequency offsets. For comb-2, i.e., transmitting SRS on every other subcarrier, 2 SRSs can be frequency multiplexed, whereas for comb-4, up to 4 SRSs can be frequency multiplexed.

[0057] The SRS can be configured as periodic, semi-persistent, or aperiodic transmission. A periodic SRS is transmitted with a certain configured periodicity and a certain configured slot offset within that period. A semi- persistent SRS has a configured periodicity and slot offset in the same way as a periodic SRS; however, the SRS transmission is performed according to the configured periodicity and slot offset that is activated or deactivated via MAC control element signalling. An aperiodic SRS is only transmitted when explicitly triggered via DCI. It should be noted that SRS activation / deactivation or triggering for semi-persistent and aperiodic cases is not done for a specific SRS, rather for an SRS resource set which may include one or more SRS resources.

[0058] The bandwidth (BW) configuration of an SRS resource is controlled by the RRC parameters CSRS, nshift, BSRS, bhop, and nRRC. These parameters define which portion of a BWP (bandwidth part) is sounded by an SRS resource. The parameter CSRS e {0, 1 , ..., 63} selects a bandwidth configuration for the SRS resource corresponding to a particular row of Table 6.4.1.4.3-1 in 3GPP TS 28.211.

[0059] The parameter BSRS of the SRS bandwidth configuration controls whether all or a subset of the PRBs (physical resource blocks) in the actual sounding bandwidth are used either (i) by hopping over a number of smaller BW allocations in different OFDM symbols, or (ii) by a fixed (non-hopped) BW allocation. For frequency hopped SRS, the frequency domain starting position of each hop varies over time according to a pre-defined hopping pattern, whereas for non-hopped SRS, the frequency domain starting position is fixed over time.

[0060] The sequences applied to the set of SRS resource elements are partly based on Zadoff-Chu sequences. In the case of an SRS supporting more than one antenna port, the different ports share the same set of resource elements and the same basic SRS sequence. Different phase rotations are then applied to separate the different ports. Note that applying a phase rotation in the frequency domain is equivalent to applying a cyclic shift in the time domain.

[0061] If aperiodic SRS is configured for a UE, the SRS request field in DCI triggers the transmission of aperiodic SRS resources; SRS request field may be present, e.g., in UL DCI format (such as 0_1 and 0_2) and DL DCI format (such as 1_1 and 1_2).

[0062] With respectto SRS enhancements, consider the following. Enhancements on aperiodic SRS Triggering include a new DCI field (t) for dynamic triggering offset adaptation in DCI formats 0_1 , 1_1 and without CSI and data scheduling - and new RRC configured parameter (t) (4 values) for each UL SRS resource set.

[0063] There had been other enhancements to (i) specify SRS switching for up to 8 antennas (e.g., xTyR, x = {1 , 2, 4} and y = {6, 8}), and (ii) specify the following mechanism(s) to improve SRS capacity and / or coverage:SRS time bundling, increased SRS repetition, partial sounding across frequency. One way to view xTyR is by antennas, and another is by transmission chains and reception chains, since there is typically one chain per antenna. SRS switching may occur, for instance, when there are 2T4R, and the UE wants to sound on four antennas, so that the UE uses the antennas corresponding to four reception chains for transmission of the SRS.

[0064] On a high level, one problem that the examples herein address includes the following: How to save the UE’s energy while still ensuring the UE’s quality-of-service (QoS). All of the factors described above as technical context may lead to higher power consumption and may also be used to save energy, with possibly different effects on QoS. While emphasis is placed herein on the UE, the network may also have a role and corresponding benefits in the examples.

[0065] One focus herein is on enablers for UE energy / power saving, possibly while guaranteeing some QoS requirement(s), where the UE and the network may at least partially be Qointly or separately) involved in such enabling. The enablers can be for UE energy saving with or without necessarily (e.g., jointly) considering network energy saving aspects.

[0066] Turning to FIG. 1 , this figure is a simple signal diagram illustrating communication between a UE (user equipment, a wireless and typically mobile device) 10 and a network (NW) for facilitating UE-sided element(s) adaptation;. The NW 1 may be represented by a gNB (e.g., a base station for 5G). This figure introduces some of the broad aspects of the examples, while FIG. 1A (described below) illustrates a more specific example. Many other examples are provided below, but FIG. 1 (and FIG. 1A) provide an introduction to the general concepts.

[0067] In FIG. 1, the NW 1 sends, in signaling 1 , a message indicating at least one reference value of a metric. This is for one example, where the UE obtains the at least one reference value of the metric from the NW, e.g., instead of from a specification (which is also possible). The at least one reference value of a metric may be a single value of the metric, e.g., used as a threshold; may be multiple values of the metric (e.g., thresholds applicable to different conditions); or may be range(s) of values of the metric. In block 2, the UE performs a process, using the at least one reference value of the metric, resulting in adjustment of a set of elements; note that, throughout the draft, at least one element may correspond to or may comprise at least one module or component. This may entail determining calculated or measured value(s) that can be compared to the at least one reference value of the metric. The set of elements include a number of one or more elements, such as antennas. This adjustment is typically to lower power by deactivating elements in the UE, such as reception chains used to receive data from corresponding antennas, but this is only one example. For instance, due to measurements (taken as part of the process), the UE might also activate elements, such as if a QoS (quality of service) or CQI (channel quality information) is not met based on corresponding reference values with fewer elements being active. In signaling 3, the UE 10 sends a message with indication relating to the adjustment ofthe set of elements. This allows the NW to take action (or not take action) depending on what has happened via the adjustment of the set of elements, or at least inform the NW as to the situation at the UE. The signaling 4 is one example, which may or may not be performed depending on configuration. This example has the network 1 providing a message with indication granting (or not granting) the adjustment of the set of elements. This assumes that the UE 10 has to have confirmation from the network in order to adjust the set of elements. This is one possibility, and another is that the UE can adjust the set of elements without confirmation (e.g., and possibly report to the network that the set of elements have been adjusted).

[0068] Consider the following more specific example from FIG. 1 A, which is a more detailed signaling diagram illustrating a more specific example for facilitating UE-sided element(s) adaptation. In this example, the access network is implemented via gNB 70. In signaling 110, the UE 10 signals a capability indication of supporting 2T8R and 2T4R SRS configurations for antenna switching. That is, the UE can transmit using two transmission chains (indicated by 2T) over 8 communication paths used for reception by reception chains (indicated by 8R) or over 4 communication paths used for reception by reception chains (indicated by 4R). Each reception chain as a corresponding antenna. The 2T8R and 2T4R provide multiple different antenna configurations for SRS transmissions. This allows different communication paths to be used, such that corresponding antennas and associated elements (e.g., reception chains) can be adjusted by being deactivated or activated. The gNB 70 in signaling 120 indicates CSI configuration including a reference value for a metric (e.g., based on a delta CQI) for switching between 2T8R and 2T4R. The UE in operation 130 performs CSI calculation including evaluating the delta CQI. In this example, the metric is CQI and the at least one value of the metric is the delta CQI. In signaling 140, the UE 10 indicates a CSI report optionally including an event indication of switching 2T8R^2T4R or 2T4R^2T8R. In signaling 150, the gNB 70 sends an indication of configuration switching 2T8R^2T4R or 2T4R^2T8R. This example allows the UE 10 to perform antenna switching to transmit different SRS configurations, and it allows the gNB 70 to also use a smaller set of SRS configurations. This assumes the delta CQI is adjusted, e.g., to meet some QoS.

[0069] Now that an overview has been described, the following are general operations that are involved in an example.

[0070] 1) The UE obtains a reference metric value or range, wherein the reference metric value or range corresponds to or is related to an indication or configuration from the network;

[0071] 2) The UE determines, based on the reference metric value or range, a set of elements that can be activated or active or deactivated (or muted) at the UE; and

[0072] 3) The UE determines to switch to a setting that corresponds to (i) the determined set of elements or (ii) to a set of elements that is smaller or larger than the determined set of elements.

[0073] The set of elements is or corresponds to a number of elements having one or more elements.

[0074] These general operations are further defined in FIG. 2A, which is a flow diagram of a method performed by the user equipment for facilitating UE-sided element(s) adaptation. In block 210, the UE obtains at least one reference value of a metric, wherein the at least one reference value associated with the metric corresponds to a configuration from a network. The obtaining may be from a specification, or from signaling from the network (e.g., gNB). In block 220, the UE 10 determines a set of elements to be adjusted at the user equipment based on the at least one reference value associated with the metric. The UE 10, in block 230, performs adjustment of the set of elements. In block 240, the UE 10 transmits an indication to the network, wherein the indication relates to the adjustment of the set of elements.

[0075] Referring to FIG. 2B, this figure a flow diagram of a method for facilitating UE-sided element(s) adaptation. This figure is performed by the network 1 , e.g., a gNB 70, assumes the at least one reference value of a metric is signaled by the network. In block 250, the gNB 70 sends, to a user equipment, at least one reference value associated with metric, wherein the at least one reference value of the reference metric corresponds to a configuration from the network. The gNB 70, in block 260, receives, from the user equipment, an indication relating to the adjustment of the set of elements.

[0076] Additional options for both the UE 10 and the network 1 (e.g., gNB 70) are provided now.

[0077] The obtaining in block 210 of FIG. 2A may be via signaling from the network to the UE or via information in a specification. In some examples, the muting of the set of elements may be considered to be ignoring the output of an active set of elements. For instance, not using any output from receive chains, which would save power because less processing is performed than if the output would be processed. In some other examples, muting and deactivating a set of elements may both correspond to turning off, partially or fully, the set of elements or at least some modules or components corresponding to the set of elements.

[0078] In block 220 of FIG. 2A, the UE may determine the set of elements that can be activated or deactivated (or muted) at the UE based on, e.g., a calculated value (e.g., or measured value) of the metric, each of which relates or corresponds to a set of active (e.g., or muted) elements at the UE. The UE may determine the set of elements the UE can deactivate (or mute) by selecting the set of elements that corresponds to a lowest number of active elements that corresponds to (e.g., results in) a metric value greater than or equal to a reference metric value. Alternatively, the UE may determine the set of elements the UE can deactivate (or mute) by selecting the set of elements that corresponds to the lowest number of active elements which results in or corresponds to a metric value that falls within a reference metric range.

[0079] Obtaining, in block 210 of FIG. 2A, the at least one reference metric value or range may correspond to the UE receiving information indicative of the at least one reference metric value or range from the network,where such information may be carried via DCI (downlink control information), MAC CE, RRC (radio resource control), SIB (system information block), SI (system information), or broadcast. Obtaining the at least one reference metric value or range may correspond to the current set of active elements at the UE. Obtaining the at least one reference metric value or range may correspond to the UE computing the at least one reference value or range, e.g., based on the current set of active elements at the UE.

[0080] The UE may be configured or indicated (e.g., via signaling from the network) to compute (e.g., or measure) and report a difference between the reference value and the computed (or measured) value corresponding to the determined set of elements; or, similarly, report a headroom information reflecting such as difference. The reporting would be performed by step 240 of FIG. 2A and the indicating would be by block 210 of FIG. 2A and block 250 of FIG. 2B

[0081] The UE may be configured / indicated (e.g., through RRC, MAC CE, and / or DCI in steps 210 and 250) to report information indicative of a computed or measured value corresponding to the determined set of elements, where such information may correspond to the at least one value of the metric. If the at least one value of the metric is a range, the computed or measured value could be within or outside the range.

[0082] The reporting (e.g., transmitted by the UE in block 240 and received by the gNB in block 260) of a difference (or headroom), or of information indicative of the computed or measured value corresponding to the determined set of elements, may be carried through UCI or UL MAC CE. In addition, the reporting may be through dedicated or shared PUCCH / PUSCH (physical uplink control channel / physical uplink shared channel) resources.

[0083] The measurement and / or reporting (e.g., transmitted by the UE in block 240 and received by the gNB in block 260) of the difference (or headroom), or of information indicative of the computed or measured value corresponding to the determined set of elements (or to any set of elements), may be associated with a (e.g., CSI) report configuration, which can include measurement(s). The report configuration may be an individual subconfiguration of a larger configuration or an individual configuration that is a single configuration or made of multiple sub-configurations. For clarity, the term “CSI configuration” is intended to include at least one of CSI report configuration or CSI measurement configuration. It should be appreciated that reference to “configuration” herein does not apply only to CSI configuration or CSI report configuration, but may also cover report configuration not involving CSI as well.

[0084] The report configuration may be associated with one or more RS (reference signal) resources such as SSB (SS / PBCH block, Synchronization Signal / Physical broadcast channel block), CSI-RS, TRS, DMRS (Demodulation reference signal) (of PDSCH, physical downlink shared channel, and / or PDCCH, physical downlink control channel, or the like), where the measurements are performed based on at least one of the oneor more RS resources.

[0085] In at least some examples, the report configuration may be additionally associated to a spatial and / or power setting at the network. In at least some examples, the report configuration may be associated with one or more set of elements that can be activated or active or deactivated (or muted) at the UE. The reporting (e.g., including measurements) of the difference, or of information indicative of the calculated or measured value corresponding to the determined set of elements (or to any set of elements), may be associated with a CSI trigger state, which includes a reference value for CSI that is used to trigger CSI reporting.

[0086] There could be one or more assumptions, each of which relates to a set of active or muted elements at the UE, the UE should consider and may be configured as part of a report configuration or may be indicated through trigger state.

[0087] The UE may be configured or indicated (with a corresponding trigger) to report information indicative of a calculated (e.g., or measured) value for each one or more of the assumptions, each of which relates to a set of active or muted elements at the UE. Any configuration or indicating described herein could be via block 210 of FIG. 2A and block 250 of FIG. 2B, and any reporting may be performed via block 240 of FIG. 2A and block 260 of FIG. 2B.

[0088] The UE may be configured or indicated (e.g., with a corresponding trigger) to report information indicative of the determined at least one set of elements that can be activated or deactivated (or muted) at the UE.

[0089] The reporting may be defined as event-based type of reporting, where the UE monitors at least one condition (e.g., as the at least one reference value of the metric), and reports information to the network if the at least one condition is satisfied.

[0090] Specifically, the UE may only report information in response to there being at least one assumption for which a corresponding computed or measured value is greater than or equal to the at least one reference value of the metric, where the information is indicative of the assumption or of the corresponding at least one reference value (such as a single value, multiple values, or range(s), or indicative of a difference between a computed or measured value and at least one reference value corresponding to the selected assumption).

[0091] In some embodiments, the UE may determine that only the current setting, which corresponds to the current number of set of active / muted elements at the UE, corresponds to a computed or measured value greater than or equal to the at least one reference value of the metric. In other words, the UE may determine that there is no other assumption related to set of active elements that would have a computed or measured value greater than or equal to the reference value of the metric.

[0092] The UE may provide indication indicative of any of the above.

[0093] The UE may determine that even all the assumptions, and the current setting, do not correspond to acomputed or measured value greater than or equal to the reference value of the metric. The UE may provide indication indicative of this.

[0094] The UE may report information indicative of one or more of the following, which correspond to the determined set of elements:

[0095] 1) max (maximum) rank,

[0096] 2) max number of SRS ports,

[0097] 3) active set of SRS ports, active RX chains, or [xT yR] setting where xT and yR correspond to number of transmit antennas / chains and receive antennas / chains, respectively,

[0098] 4) bandwidth(s) or CC(s) (component carrier(s)) or cell(s) or band(s) that can be covered or cannot be covered, and / or

[0099] 5) achievable power class (per cell, per band, and / or per band combination, or the like), and additionally or alternatively, delta power class, a power class differential (known as a “delta”).

[0100] An element of the set of elements at the UE may correspond to at least one of: an RX (e.g., reception) chain, an SRS port or SRS port group, or receive antenna element or receive antenna element group.

[0101] The at least one reference value of the metric may be value(s) or range(s) that may correspond to QoS condition(s) (such as min, minimum, rank, or CQI range, or the like).

[0102] A metric may correspond to at least one of the following: RSRP, SI NR, RSRQ, BLER, CQI, rank, at least one (other) CSI quantity, power saving, power consumption, post decoding performance or quality, LLRs (loglikelihood ratios). A reference value of such a metric may be expressed as at least one of the following conditions: a range of channel quality indicator (CQI) values; a minimum CQI; a minimum signal to noise ratio (SNR); a minimum signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR); a minimum BLER; an SNR condition; an SINR condition; a BLER condition; a rank condition; a post decoding performance or quality condition; a power consumption condition; or a power saving condition.

[0103] The at least one reference value of the metric may be value(s) or range(s) that may be defined or configured per cell or CC (component carrier) or carrier or BWP (bandwidth part) or cell group or CC group or carrier group or BWP group.

[0104] The UE may indicate, e.g., through capability signaling, information regarding assumptions the UE may support or can evaluate, where an assumption relates to a set of active or muted elements at the UE. Such capability may be provided per cell or per band or per band combination.

[0105] After the UE determines, e.g., a reduced (or increased) set of active elements that can be switched to, the UE may switch to a setting that corresponds to such set of elements after sending the indication to the network, e.g., just after sending a physical UL channel carrying the report in block 240 of FIG. 2A.

[0106] The UE may send to the network information, as UCI or MAC CE, indicative that the UE has switched to that setting. Alternatively, the UE may switch to the setting only after receiving confirmation from the network in response to the UE reporting, where such confirmation would allow (or not) the UE to switch to, e.g., the reduced (or increased) set of active elements. See the example of signaling 150 in FIG. 1 A as one possibility.

[0107] The UE may receive from the network, via DCI, MAC CE, and / or RRC as examples, indication indicative of a UE setting to switch to for, or within, at least one time period.

[0108] Based on the reporting (e.g., transmitted in block 240 of FIG. 2A and received in block 250 of FIG. 2B) from the UE, the network may indicate the UE with updated or new configuration such as antenna switching configuration or SRS configuration (time and / or frequency domain resources, spatial resources, number of ports, number of resources, bandwidth, quasi-colocation information, or the like).

[0109] The above considerations are somewhat generic and the following are more specific examples. These examples expand upon the example in FIG. 1 A.

[0110] Consider a UE equipped with 2 TXRUs (transmission reception units) and 8 antennas. FIGS. 3-5 illustrate an example of a foldable device capable of simultaneous transmission from two antennas and reception from either 8 antennas or 4 antennas. Specifically, FIG. 3 illustrates a UE 300 that is unfolded; FIG. 4 illustrates the UE 300 of FIG. 3 that is folded; and FIG. 5 illustrates the folded UE 300 of FIG. 4 where some antennas and their corresponding reception chains are deactivated. While a foldable device is illustrated, the examples herein are applicable to non-foldable devices, but the foldable devices illustrate possible uses of certain of the examples.

[0111] In FIG. 3, the UE 300 is illustrated as an unfolded device 310 having two panels, a “left” panel 330-1 and a “right” panel 330-2. Panel 330-1 has four antennas 340, and panel 330-2 has four antennas 350, and the antennas are sets of antennas in antennas 28. There are communication paths 380-1 through 380-8, and each of these has a corresponding Rx path 360-1 through 360-8 and a corresponding possible Tx path 370-1 through 370-8. There are four Rx paths 360-1 to 360-4 in panel 330-1 and four Rx paths 360-5 through 360-8 in panel 330-2. Each Rx path 360 has a corresponding Rx chain Rx1 to Rx8. There are two Tx chains Tx1 and Tx2. The first Tx chain Tx1 are able to be coupled to, and therefore can transmit using, any of the four Tx paths 370-1 through 370-4, and the second Tx chain Tx2 are able to be coupled to, and therefore can transmit using, any of the four Tx paths 370-5 through 370-8. It can be seen, as illustrated by block 320, that there is a (e.g., relatively) large separation between co-polarized antennas, such as between 340-1 and 350-1 or 340-3. The “large” separation is relative to the smaller separation between closer antennas, such as between antennas 340-1 and 340-2, which have a smaller separation (and are opposite in polarity) as compared to the large separation between antennas 340-1 and 340-2. Only certain of the antennas 340, 350 are marked with reference numbers. It is noted that only a single antenna is used for individual communication paths and corresponding receptionchains, but it may be possible to have a set (one or more) of antennas for individual communication paths and corresponding reception chains.

[0112] FIG. 4 illustrates a folded device 31 1 where the “left” panel 330-1 is placed over the “right” panel 330-2, and this viewpoint looks “down” on the folded device 311 such that the “left” panel 330-1 is at the top in this viewpoint. The antennas 340-1 , 340-2, 350-1 , and 350-2 are marked. There is a shorter separation (see block 321) between the co-polarized antennas of 350-1 and 340-2 and also between 340-1 and 350-2, where “shorter” is relative to the longer separation as described for FIG. 3. FIG. 5 illustrates the folded device 311 and the fact (see block 323) that some antennas (e.g., and their corresponding reception chains) are deactivated. For this example, the antennas 350-1, 340-1, 340-4, and 350-4 are activated (e.g., along with their reception chains Rx), and the antennas 340-2, 350-2, 350-4 and 350-4 are deactivated, the first Tx chain can transmit using one of Tx paths 370-1 or 370-4, and the second Tx chain can transmit using one of Tx paths 370-5 or 370-8. This means that there will be a relatively large separation between the co-polarized antennas of 350-1 and 340-4, and 340- 1 and 350-4. Other options are possible, such as having the antennas 350-1 , 340-1 , 340-3, and 350-3 be activated, and the antennas 340-2, 350-2, 350-4 and 350-4 be deactivated. It is noted that any time an antenna is stated herein as being deactivated, the corresponding communication (or Tx) path is not available for transmission (e.g., deactivated) and / or the corresponding reception chain is deactivated. Any time an antenna is stated herein as being activated, the corresponding communication (or Tx) path is available for transmission (e.g., activated) and / or the corresponding reception chain is activated.

[0113] This UE 300 may also support different configurations for SRS transmission for antenna switching, for example 2T8R (i.e., transmission of 4 SRS resources with 2 ports each) and 2T4R (i.e., transmission of 2 SRS resources with 2 ports each). Depending on the relative position of the two device panels 330-1, 330-2, folded or unfolded, the minimum spacing between co-polarized antennas 340, 350 can be achieved: for example, in folded configuration, such minimum spacing is much smaller than in unfolded configuration. As a consequence, some antennas may be very correlated (e.g., meeting some threshold of a metric determining correlation) in folded configuration and they can be muted for reception and antenna switching, thereby saving energy for processing at the UE without compromising performance.

[0114] The NW may configure the device with a range for the metric, for example, a range of CQI values, or a minimum CQI, or a rank condition, such that the UE may deactivate some antenna elements in response to the measured CQI fulfilling the configured QoS condition. As an example, in a TDD operation, the NW acquires the DL channel from SRS transmission. Assume that initially SRS transmission is configured for 2T8R antenna switching. The NW determines the precoding for the PDSCH layers from SRS estimation and configures / triggers / activates the UE to measure CQI (or some other interference metric) on such precodedsignals for different rank hypotheses. The UE then reports one or more CQIs / i nterference metrics corresponding to one or more selected ranks. Additionally, a UE may be configured to report an indication that reception can be performed with only four antennas without performance degradation. This indication can be a simple indication of switching, or preference for switching, from a 2T8R to a 2T4R, or reporting additional CQI values corresponding to reception from four antenna ports. Upon reception of this event being detected, the NW may switch SRS transmission from 2T8R to 2T4R configuration and the UE can deactivate reception and transmission from four out of the eight antennas. The reverse switching between 2T4R to 2T8R can be supported in a similar way if certain conditions are satisfied, for example, reception from eight antennas providing significant CQI improvement over four antennas.

[0115] Turning to FIG. 6, this figure shows a block diagram of one possible and non-limiting example of a cellular network 1 that is connected to a user equipment (UE) 10. A number of network elements are shown in the cellular network of FIG. 6: a base station 70; and a core network 90.

[0116] In FIG. 6, a user equipment (UE) 10 is in wireless communication via radio link 11 with the base station 70 of the cellular network 1. A UE 10 is a wireless communication device, such as a mobile device, that is configured to access a cellular network. The UE 10 is illustrated with one or more antennas 28. The ellipses 2 indicate there could be multiple UEs 10 in wireless communication via radio links with the base station 70. The UE 10 includes one or more processors 13, one or more memories 15, and other circuitry 16. The other circuitry 16 includes one or more receivers (Rx(s)) 17 and one or more transmitters (Tx(s)) 18. Instructions 12 (e.g., from a program or other software) are used to cause the UE 10 to perform the operations described herein. For a UE 10, the other circuitry 16 could include circuitry such as for user interface elements (not shown) like a display. The instructions 12 may be stored in memory / memories 15 and executed by processor(s) 13, or executed by circuitry such being implemented as part of the processor(s) or other circuitry elements, or both.

[0117] The base station 70, as a network element of the cellular network 1, provides the UE 10 access to cellular network 1 and to the data network 91 via the core network 90 (e.g., via a user plane function (UPF) of the core network 90). As such, the base station 70 may be considered to be an access node, which provides access by UE(s) 10 to the cellular network 1. The base station 70 is illustrated as having one or more antennas 58. In general, the base station 70 may be referred to as RAN node 70, although many will make reference to this as a gNB (gNode B, a base station for NR, new radio) instead. The term gNB is mainly used herein. There are, however, many other examples of RAN nodes including an eNB (evolved Node B) or TRP (Transmission- Reception Point). The base station 70 includes one or more processors 73, one or more memories 75, and other circuitry 76. The other circuitry 76 includes one or more receivers (Rx(s)) 77 and one or more transmitters (Tx(s)) 78. Instructions 72 (e.g., from a program or other software) are used to cause the base station 70 to perform theoperations described herein. The instructions 72 may be stored in memory / memories 75 and executed by processor(s) 73, or executed by circuitry such being implemented as part of the processor(s) or other circuitry elements, or both.

[0118] The base station 70 may be monolithic, meaning that all functionality such as the layers in a protocol stack is performed in a single hardware element. The base station may also be implemented in a functional split, where some of the (e.g., lower) layers of the protocol stack are implemented in a DU (distributed unit) 42 and some of the (e.g., higher) layers are implemented in a CU (central unit) 43, and there is an (e.g., Fs) interface 44 connecting the DU 42 and CU 43. There may be multiple DUs 42 per CU 43, although only one DU 42 is shown in FIG. 6.

[0119] It is noted that the abase station 70 may instead be implemented via other wireless technologies, such as Wi-Fi (a wireless networking protocol that devices use to communicate without direct cable connections). In the case of Wi-Fi, the link 11 could be characterized as a wireless link.

[0120] Two or more base stations 70 communicate using, e.g., link(s) 79. The link(s) 79 may be wired or wireless or both and may implement, e.g., an Xn interface for 5G (fifth generation), an X2 interface for LTE (Long Term Evolution), or other suitable interface for other standards.

[0121] The cellular network 1 may include a core network 90, as a second network element or elements, that may include core network functionality, and which provide connectivity via a link or links 81 with a data network 91 , such as a telephone network and / or a data communications network (e.g., the Internet). The core network 90 includes one or more processors 93, one or more memories 95, and other circuitry 96. The other circuitry 96 includes one or more receivers (Rx(s)) 97 and one or more transmitters (Tx(s)) 98. Instructions 92 (such as from a program or other software) are used to cause the core network 90 to perform the operations described herein. The instructions 92 may be stored in memory / memories 95 and executed by processor(s) 93, or executed by circuitry such being implemented as part of the processor(s) or other circuitry elements, or both.

[0122] The core network 90 could be a 5GC (5G core network). The core network 90 can implement or comprise multiple network functions (NF(s)) 99, and the instructions 92 may comprise one or more of the NFs 99. A 5G core network may use circuitry such as memory and processors, which may implement a virtualization layer. It could be a single standalone computing system, a distributed computing system, or a cloud computing system. The NFs 99, as network elements, of the core network could be containers or virtual machines running on the circuitry of the computing system(s) making up the core network 90.

[0123] Core network functionality for 5G may include access and mobility management functionality that is provided by a network function 99 such as an access and mobility management function (AMF), session management functionality that is provided by a network function such as a session management function (SMF).Core network functionality for access and mobility management in an LTE (Long Term Evolution) network may be provided by an MME (Mobility Management Entity) and / or SGW (Serving Gateway) functionality, which routes data to the data network. Many others are possible, as illustrated by the examples in FIG. 6: AMF; SMF; MME; SGW; GMLC (Gateway Mobile Location Center); LMF (Location Management Function); UDM (Unified Data Management) / UDR (Unified Data Repository); NRF (Network Repository Function); and / or E-SMLC (Evolved Serving Mobile Location Center). These are merely exemplary core network functionality that may be provided by the core network 90, and note that both 5G and LTE core network functionality might be provided by the core network 90. The base station 70 is coupled via a backhaul link 31 to the core network 90. The base station 70 and the core network 90 may include an NG (Next Generation) interface for 5G, or an S1 interface for LTE, or other suitable interface for other radio access technologies for communicating via the backhaul link 31.

[0124] In the data network 91, there are instructions 94 stored in a computer-readable storage medium 4-1 , which could be circuitry such as long-term memory such as a hard drive or a solid-state drive, a short-term memory such as dynamic random-access memory, or a combination of both (e.g., reading from long-term memory for temporary placement into short-term memory and subsequent downloading). The computer-readable medium 4-1 contains instructions 94 that, when downloaded and installed into the instructions 12, 72, and 92 and / or memories 15, 75, or 95 of the corresponding UE 10, base station 70, and / or core network element(s) 90, and executed by processor(s) 13, 73, or 93, cause the respective device to perform corresponding actions described herein. The computer-readable storage medium 4 may be implemented in other forms, such as via instructions 94 on a compact disc (as a computer-readable storage medium 4-2) or a memory stick.

[0125] The instructions 12, 72, and 92 are stored by corresponding one or more memories 15, 75, or 95. These instructions, when executed by the corresponding one or more processors 13, 73, or 93, cause the corresponding apparatus 10, 70, or 90, to perform the operations described herein. The computer readable memories 15, 75, or 95 are circuitry and may be of any type suitable to the local technical environment and may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as semiconductor-based memory devices, flash memory, firmware, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory and removable memory. The processors 13, 73, and 93, are circuitry and may be of any type suitable to the local technical environment. For example, these processors may include one or more of general-purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs), processors based on a multicore processor architecture, and may also include specialized circuits such as field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific circuits (ASICs), signal processing devices and other devices, or combinations of these devices, as non-limiting examples. The processors 13, 73, and 93 are circuitry that can be programmed to perform functions via software, firmware or the like (including microcode), but are not solely software.

[0126] The receivers 17, 77, and 97, and the transmitters 18, 78, and 98 may implement wired or wireless interfaces. The receivers and transmitters may be grouped together as transceivers.

[0127] The cellular network 1 may implement network virtualization, which is the process of combining circuitry and software network resources and network functionality into a single, software-based administrative entity, a virtual network. Network virtualization involves platform virtualization, often combined with resource virtualization. Network virtualization is categorized as either external, combining many networks, or parts of networks, into a virtual unit, or internal, providing network-like functionality to software containers on a single system. Note that the virtualized entities (such as network functions 99) that result from the network virtualization are still implemented, at some level, using circuitry such as processors 73 and / or 93 and memories 75 and / or 95, and also such virtualized entities create technical effects.

[0128] In general, the various embodiments of the user equipment 10 can include, but are not limited to, devices implementing cellular technologies (such as smart phones, mobile phones, cellular phones, voice over Internet Protocol (IP) (VoIP) phones, and / or wireless local loop phones), tablets, portable computers, vehicles or vehiclemounted devices for, e.g., wireless V2X (vehicle-to-everything) communication, image capture devices such as digital cameras, gaming devices, music storage and playback appliances, Internet appliances (including Internet of Things, loT, devices), loT devices with sensors and / or actuators for, e.g., automation applications, as well as portable units or terminals that incorporate combinations of such functions, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), Universal Serial Bus (USB) dongles, smart devices, wireless customerpremises equipment (CPE), an Internet of Things (loT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD), a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remote surgery), an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and / or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and / or an automated processing chain contexts), a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial and / or industrial wireless networks, and the like. That is, the UE 10 could be any end device that may be capable of wireless communication. By way of example rather than limitation, the UE may also be referred to as a communication device, terminal device (MT), a Subscriber Station (SS), a Portable Subscriber Station, a Mobile Station (MS), or an Access Terminal (AT).

[0129] Without in any way limiting the scope, interpretation, or application of the claims appearing below, a technical effect and / or advantage of one or more of the example embodiments disclosed herein is providing efficient solutions / ways to enable UE power saving, with or without necessarily considering network energy saving aspects. The UE may or may not necessarily correspond to foldable devices. Another technical effect and / or advantage of one or more of the example embodiments disclosed herein is that the proposed examples more generally enable UE-sided element adaptation. Another technical effect and / or advantage of one or moreof the example embodiments disclosed herein is that the proposed examples may also allow reducing unnecessary RS signal overhead.

[0130] The following are additional examples.

[0131] Example 1. A method, comprising: obtaining, by a user equipment, at least one reference value of a metric, wherein the at least one reference value of the metric corresponds to a configuration from a network; determining, by the user equipment, a set of elements to be adjusted at the user equipment based on the at least one reference value of the metric; performing, by the user equipment, adjustment of the set of elements; and transmitting, by the user equipment, an indication to the network, wherein the indication relates to the adjustment of the set of elements.

[0132] Example 2. The method according to example 1 , wherein adjusting the set of elements comprises at least one of the following: activating one or more of the set of elements; deactivating one or more of the set of elements; or muting one or more of the set of elements.

[0133] Example 3. The method according to example 1 or 2, wherein the indication relating to the adjustment of the set of elements comprises at least one of: information indicative of a difference between the at least one reference value of the metric and a calculated or measured value corresponding to the determined set of elements, wherein the adjustment is based at least on the difference; information indicative of the calculated or measured value corresponding to the determined set of elements, wherein the adjustment is based at least on the calculated or measured value; or information indicative of at least one calculated value for the metric; or information indicative of the adjustment performed to the set of elements.

[0134] Example 4. The method according to example 3, wherein transmitting the indication is carried through at least one of uplink control information (UCI), uplink (UL) medium access control control element (MAC CE) or elements, or a radio resource control (RRC) message.

[0135] Example 5. The method according to example 3, wherein the indication relating to the adjustment of the set of elements is associated with a report configuration.

[0136] Example 6. The method according to example 5, wherein the report configuration is associated with one or more reference signal resources, and the determining the set of elements to be adjusted comprises performing, by the user equipment, measurements based on at least one of the one or more reference signal resources to compare with the at least one reference value of the metric.

[0137] Example 7. The method according to example 5, wherein the report configuration is associated to at least one of a spatial setting or power setting at the network.

[0138] Example 8. The method according to example 5, wherein the report configuration is associated with one or more sets of elements that can be activated or active or deactivated at the user equipment.

[0139] Example 9. The method according to example 3, wherein the indication relating to the adjustment of the set of elements is transmitted based on obtaining a trigger state for channel state information.

[0140] Example 10. The method according to any of examples 1 to 3, wherein: the user equipment has multiple antenna configurations at least for transmission or reception; determining a set of elements to be adjusted at the user equipment comprises determining a set of antennas that are to be deactivated based on selecting one of the multiple antenna configurations; and performing adjustment of the set of elements comprises deactivating the set of antennas, and not using the set of antennas for transmission or reception.

[0141] Example 11 . The method according to any of examples 1 to 3, wherein: the user equipment has multiple antenna configurations for transmission or reception; determining a set of elements to be adjusted at the user equipment comprises determining a set of antennas that are to be activated based on selecting one of the multiple antenna configurations; and performing adjustment of the set of elements comprises activating the set of antennas, and using the set of antennas for transmission or reception or reception.

[0142] Example 12. The method according to any of examples 1 to 3, wherein: the user equipment has multiple transmission chains and multiple reception chains, and individual ones of the multiple transmission chains are able to be coupled to a set of antennas of one of the multiple reception chains via a corresponding communication path; determining a setof elements to be adjusted at the user equipment comprises determining a set of antennas that are to be deactivated; and performing adjustment of the set of elements comprises deactivating the set of antennas, and not using the corresponding communication path to the set of antennas for transmission or reception.

[0143] Example 13. The method according to example 1, wherein: the obtaining the at least one reference value of the metric comprises receiving, from the network, indication of the at least one reference value of the metric comprising at least one of the following conditions: a range of channel quality indicator (CQI) values; a minimum CQI; a minimum signal to noise ratio (SNR); a minimum signal to interference plus noise ratio (SI NR); an SNR condition; an SINR condition; or a rank condition; and determining the set of elements to be adjusted at the user equipment comprises determining one or more antennas to deactivate based on whether at least one of the conditions is satisfied.

[0144] Example 14. The method according to example 1, wherein the configuration from the network comprises at least two configurations for antennas, a first configuration with a higher number of antennas, and a second configuration with a lower number of antennas; switching, by the user equipment, transmissions using the higher number of antennas to use instead the lower number of antennas, based on one or more conditions being satisfied for the at least one reference value of the metric, wherein the transmissions are for transmitting at least sounding reference signals; and the transmitting the indication to the network comprises transmitting indicationthat reception can be performed with the lower number of antennas.

[0145] Example 15. The method according to example 14, wherein: the first configuration has a higher number of reception chains corresponding to the higher number of antennas; and the second configuration has a lower number of reception chains corresponding to the lower number of antennas.

[0146] Example 16. The method according to example 13, wherein: the configuration from the network comprises at least two configurations for antennas, a first configuration with a higher number of antennas, and a second configuration with a lower number of antennas; switching, by the user equipment, transmissions using the lower number of antennas to use instead the higher number of antennas, based on one or more conditions being satisfied for the at least one reference value of the metric, wherein the transmissions are for transmitting at least sounding reference signals; and the transmitting the indication to the network comprises transmitting indication that reception can be performed with the higher number of antennas.

[0147] Example 17. The method according to example 16, wherein: the first configuration has a higher number of reception chains corresponding to the higher number of antennas; and the second configuration has a lower number reception chains corresponding to the lower number of antennas.

[0148] Example 18. The method according to any of examples 1 to 17, wherein determining the set of elements to be adjusted comprises determining the set of elements to be adjusted at the user equipment based on a calculated or measured value for or corresponding to the metric, wherein the calculated or the measured value relate to a set of active, deactivated, or muted elements at the user equipment.

[0149] Example 19. The method according to any of examples 1 to 18, wherein the method further comprises the user equipment being configured or indicated or triggered to report information, via the transmitting, indicative of calculated or measured values of or corresponding to the metric.

[0150] Example 20. The method according to any of examples 1 to 19, wherein determining the set of elements to be adjusted comprises determining the set of elements the user equipment can deactivate by selecting the set of elements that corresponds to a lowest number of active elements which corresponds to a calculated or measured value greater than or equal to the at least one reference value of the metric.

[0151] Example 21. The method according to any of examples 1 to 19, wherein determining the set of elements to be adjusted comprises determining the set of elements the user equipment can deactivate by selecting the set of elements that corresponds to a lowest number of active elements which corresponds to a calculated or measured value that falls within a range indicated by the at least one reference value of the metric.

[0152] Example 22. The method according to any of examples 1 to 21 , wherein the obtaining the reference value of the metric comprises receiving, by the user equipment, information indicative of the at least one reference value of the metric from the network, wherein the information is carried via at least one of downlinkcontrol information (DCI), medium access control control element (MAC CE) or elements, or radio resource control (RRC) message.

[0153] Example 23. The method according to any of examples 1 to 22, wherein the at least one reference value of the metric corresponds to a current set of active elements at the user equipment.

[0154] Example 24. The method according to any of examples 1 to 23, wherein the obtaining the at least one reference value of the metric comprises calculating or measuring, by the user equipment, one or more values for the at least one reference value of the metric based on a current set of active elements at the user equipment.

[0155] Example 25. The method according to any of examples 1 to 24, wherein transmitting further comprises reporting information indicative of one or more of the following corresponding to the determined set of elements: maximum rank, maximum number of ports for sounding reference signals (SRS), active set of the ports for SRS, deactivated set of ports, or active reception chains, or [xT yR] setting where xT and yR correspond to number of transmit antennas and receive antennas, respectively, or one or more bandwidths, or one or more component carriers, or one or more cells, or one or more frequency bands that can be covered or cannot be covered; or achievable power class per one of the following: cell; frequency band; or frequency band combination.

[0156] Example 26. A method, comprising: sending, from a network to a user equipment, at least one reference value of a metric, wherein the at least one reference value of the metric corresponds to a configuration from the network and is to be used by the user equipment for adjustment of a set of elements at the user equipment; and receiving, by the network from the user equipment, an indication relating to the adjustment of the set of elements.

[0157] Example 27. The method according to example 26, wherein: the method further comprises receiving, by the network from the user equipment, indication indicative that the user equipment supports multiple antenna configurations for transmitting sounding reference signals; the sending the at least one reference value of the metric comprises sending a configuration comprising at least one metric or condition for switching from one antenna configuration to another antenna configuration of the multiple antenna configurations; and the receiving the indication relating to the adjustment of the set of elements comprises receiving a report for the at least one metric or condition.

[0158] Example 28. The method according to example 27, wherein the configuration is for channel state information (CSI), and wherein the report for the CSI includes indication of an event of switching between the multiple antenna configurations for transmitting sounding reference signals.

[0159] Example 29. The method according to example 28, further comprising sending, from the network to the user equipment, indication allowing or denying the event of switching between the multiple antenna configurations for transmitting sounding reference signals.

[0160] Example 30. An apparatus comprises means for performing the method of any of the examples 1 to 29.

[0161] Example 31. An apparatus comprises one or more processors; and one or more memories storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus at least to perform the method of any of the examples 1 to 29.

[0162] Example 32. A computer program, comprising instructions which, when the program is executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to carry out the methods of any of examples 1 to 29.

[0163] Example 33. The computer program according to example 32, wherein the computer program is a computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium bearing the instructions embodied therein for use with the apparatus.

[0164] Example 34. The computer program according to example 32, wherein the computer program is directly loadable into an internal memory of the apparatus.

[0165] As used in this application, the term “circuitry” may refer to one or more or all of the following:

[0166] (a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in analog, digital, and / or quantum circuitry) and

[0167] (b) combinations of hardware circuits and software such as (as applicable): (i) a combination of analog, digital, and / or quantum hardware circuit(s) with software / firmware and (ii) any or all portions of hardware processor(s) (including digital and / or quantum processor(s)) with software, and memory(ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile device, computing device, or server, to perform various functions) and

[0168] (c) any or all portions of hardware circuit(s), such as microprocessor(s), processor(s) and / or quantum processors, that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation.

[0169] This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and / or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

[0170] In an example embodiment, software (e.g., application logic, an instruction set) as used herein is maintained on any one of various conventional computer-readable media. In the context of this document, a “computer-readable medium” may be any media or means that can contain, store, communicate, propagate or transport the instructions for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device, such as a computer, with one example of a computer described and depicted, e.g., in FIG. 6. A computer- readable medium may comprise a computer-readable storage medium (e.g., memories 15, 75, and 95 or otherdevice) that may be any media or means that can contain, store, and / or transport the instructions for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device, such as a computer. A computer- readable storage medium does not comprise propagating signals, and therefore may be considered to be non- transitory. The term “non-transitory”, as used herein, is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation on data storage persistency (e.g., RAM, random access memory, versus ROM, readonly memory).

[0171] If desired, the different functions discussed herein may be performed in a different order and / or concurrently with each other. Furthermore, if desired, one or more of the above-described functions may be optional or may be combined.

[0172] Although various aspects of the invention are set out in the independent claims, other aspects of the invention comprise other combinations of features from the described embodiments and / or the dependent claims with the features of the independent claims, and not solely the combinations explicitly set out in the claims.

[0173] It is also noted herein that while the above describes example embodiments of the invention, these descriptions should not be viewed in a limiting sense. Rather, there are several variations and modifications which may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention as defined in the appended claims.

[0174] The following abbreviations that may be found in the specification and / or the drawing figures are defined as follows:

[0175] 5G fifth generation

[0176] 6G sixth generation

[0177] A aperiodic, e.g., A-CSI

[0178] AMF access and mobility management function

[0179] BLER block error rate

[0180] BM beam management

[0181] BW bandwidth

[0182] BWP bandwidth part

[0183] CC component carrier

[0184] CE control element

[0185] config configuration

[0186] CRI CSI-RS (channel state information-reference signal) resource indicator

[0187] CSI channel state information

[0188] CSI-RS CSI reference signals

[0189] CQI channel quality indicator

[0190] DCI Downlink control information

[0191] DL downlink (from network to UE)

[0192] DMRS Demodulation reference signal

[0193] E-SMLC evolved serving mobile location center

[0194] eNB (or eNodeB) evolved Node B (e.g., an LTE base station)

[0195] GMLC Gateway Mobile Location Center

[0196] GSMA GSM association, where GSM = Global System for Mobile Communications

[0197] gNB (or gNodeB) base station for 5G / NR

[0198] l / F interface

[0199] LMF Location Management Function

[0200] LTE long term evolution

[0201] MAC medium access control

[0202] MME mobility management entity

[0203] NF network function

[0204] ng or NG next generation

[0205] NR new radio

[0206] NRF Network Repository Function

[0207] N / W or NW network

[0208] NZP Non-zero power

[0209] OFDM orthogonal frequency division multiplexing

[0210] P periodic, e.g., P-CSI

[0211] PDCCH physical downlink control channel

[0212] PDSCH physical downlink shared channel

[0213] PMI precoding matrix indicator

[0214] PRB physical resource block

[0215] PUCCH physical uplink control channel

[0216] PUSCH physical uplink shared channel

[0217] QCL Quasi Co Location

[0218] QoS quality of service

[0219] RAN radio access network

[0220] RRC radio resource control

[0221] Rx receiver or reception

[0222] RE resource element

[0223] Rel release

[0224] Rl rank indicator

[0225] RS reference signal

[0226] RSRP Reference Signal Received Power

[0227] RSRQ Reference Signal Received Quality

[0228] SGW serving gateway

[0229] SI system information

[0230] SINR signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio

[0231] SIB system information block

[0232] SMF session management function

[0233] SNR signal to noise ratio

[0234] SP semi-persistent, e.g., SP-CSI

[0235] SRS sounding reference signal

[0236] SSB SS / PBCH block, Synchronization Signal / Physical broadcast channel block

[0237] TCI Transmission configuration indicator

[0238] TDD time division duplex

[0239] TRP transmission-reception point

[0240] TRS Tracking reference signal

[0241] Tx transmitter or transmission

[0242] UCI uplink control information

[0243] UDM unified data management

[0244] DDR unified data repository

[0245] UE user equipment (e.g., a wireless, typically mobile device)

[0246] UL uplink (from the UE to the network)

[0247] UPF user plane function

Claims

CLAIMS1. An apparatus, comprising: one or more processors; and one or more memories storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus at least to perform: obtaining, by a user equipment, at least one reference value of a metric, wherein the at least one reference value of the metric corresponds to a configuration from a network; determining, by the user equipment, a set of elements to be adjusted at the user equipment based on the at least one reference value of the metric; performing, by the user equipment, adjustment of the set of elements; and transmitting, by the user equipment, an indication to the network, wherein the indication relates to the adjustment of the set of elements.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein adjusting the set of elements comprises at least one of the following: activating one or more of the set of elements; deactivating one or more of the set of elements; or muting one or more of the set of elements.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the indication relating to the adjustment of the set of elements comprises at least one of: information indicative of a difference between the at least one reference value of the metric and a calculated or measured value corresponding to the determined set of elements, wherein the adjustment is based at least on the difference; information indicative of the calculated or measured value corresponding to the determined set of elements, wherein the adjustment is based at least on the calculated or measured value; or information indicative of at least one calculated value for the metric; or information indicative of the adjustment performed to the set of elements.

294. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein transmitting the indication is carried through at least one of uplink control information (UCI), uplink (UL) medium access control control element (MAC CE) or elements, or a radio resource control (RRC) message.

5. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the indication relating to at least one of: the adjustment of the set of elements is associated with a report configuration; or the adjustment of the set of elements is transmitted based on obtaining a trigger state for channel state information.

6. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the report configuration is associated with one or more reference signal resources, and the determining the set of elements to be adjusted comprises performing, by the user equipment, measurements based on at least one of the one or more reference signal resources to compare with the at least one reference value of the metric.

7. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the report configuration is associated to at least one of: at least one of a spatial setting or power setting at the network; or one or more sets of elements that can be activated or active or deactivated at the user equipment.

8. The apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 3, wherein: the user equipment has multiple antenna configurations at least for transmission or reception; determining a set of elements to be adjusted at the user equipment comprises determining a set of antennas that are to be deactivated or activated based on selecting one of the multiple antenna configurations; and performing adjustment of the set of elements comprises at least one of: deactivating the set of antennas, and not using the set of antennas for transmission or reception; or activating the set of antennas, and using the set of antennas for transmission or reception or reception.

9. The apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 3, wherein: the user equipment has multiple transmission chains and multiple reception chains, and individual ones of the multiple transmission chains are able to be coupled to a set of antennas of one of the multiple reception chains via a corresponding communication path; determining a set of elements to be adjusted at the user equipment comprises determining a set of antennas that are to be deactivated; and performing adjustment of the set of elements comprises deactivating the set of antennas, and not using the corresponding communication path to the set of antennas for transmission or reception.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein: the obtaining the at least one reference value of the metric comprises receiving, from the network, indication of the at least one reference value of the metric comprising at least one of the following conditions: a range of channel quality indicator (CQI) values; a minimum CQI; a minimum signal to noise ratio (SNR); a minimum signal to interference plus noise ratio (SI NR); an SNR condition; an SINR condition; or a rank condition; and determining the set of elements to be adjusted at the user equipment comprises determining one or more antennas to deactivate based on whether at least one of the conditions is satisfied.11 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the configuration from the network comprises at least two configurations for antennas, a first configuration with a higher number of antennas, and a second configuration with a lower number of antennas; switching, by the user equipment, transmissions using the higher number of antennas to use instead the lower number of antennas, based on one or more conditions being satisfied for the at least one reference value of the metric, wherein the transmissions are for transmitting at least sounding reference signals; and the transmitting the indication to the network comprises transmitting indication that reception can be performed with the lower number of antennas.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein: the first configuration has a higher number of reception chains corresponding to the higher number of antennas; andthe second configuration has a lower number of reception chains corresponding to the lower number of antennas.

13. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein: the configuration from the network comprises at least two configurations for antennas, a first configuration with a higher number of antennas, and a second configuration with a lower number of antennas; switching, by the user equipment, transmissions using the lower number of antennas to use instead the higher number of antennas, based on one or more conditions being satisfied for the at least one reference value of the metric, wherein the transmissions are for transmitting at least sounding reference signals; and the transmitting the indication to the network comprises transmitting indication that reception can be performed with the higher number of antennas.

14. The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein: the first configuration has a higher number of reception chains corresponding to the higher number of antennas; and the second configuration has a lower number reception chains corresponding to the lower number of antennas.

15. The apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 14, wherein determining the set of elements to be adjusted comprises determining the set of elements to be adjusted at the user equipment based on a calculated or measured value for or corresponding to the metric, wherein the calculated or the measured value relate to a set of active, deactivated, or muted elements at the user equipment.

16. The apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 15, wherein the one or more memories further store instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus at least to perform the user equipment being configured or indicated or triggered to report information, via the transmitting, indicative of calculated or measured values of or corresponding to the metric.

17. The apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 16, wherein determining the set of elements to be adjusted comprises determining the set of elements the user equipment can deactivate by selectingthe set of elements that corresponds to a lowest number of active elements which corresponds to a calculated or measured value greater than or equal to the at least one reference value of the metric; or wherein determining the set of elements to be adjusted comprises determining the set of elements the user equipment can deactivate by selecting the set of elements that corresponds to a lowest number of active elements which corresponds to a calculated or measured value that falls within a range indicated by the at least one reference value of the metric.

18. The apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 17, wherein the obtaining the reference value of the metric comprises receiving, by the user equipment, information indicative of the at least one reference value of the metric from the network, wherein the information is carried via at least one of downlink control information (DCI), medium access control control element (MAC CE) or elements, or radio resource control (RRC) message.

19. The apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 18, wherein the at least one reference value of the metric corresponds to a current set of active elements at the user equipment.

20. The apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 19, wherein the obtaining the at least one reference value of the metric comprises calculating or measuring, by the user equipment, one or more values for the at least one reference value of the metric based on a current set of active elements at the user equipment.21 . The apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 20, wherein transmitting further comprises reporting information indicative of one or more of the following corresponding to the determined set of elements: maximum rank, maximum number of ports for sounding reference signals (SRS), active set of the ports for SRS, deactivated set of ports, or active reception chains, or [xT yR] setting where xT and yR correspond to number of transmit antennas and receive antennas, respectively, or one or more bandwidths, or one or more component carriers, or one or more cells, or one or more frequency bands that can be covered or cannot be covered; or achievable power class per one of the following: cell; frequency band; or frequency band combination.3322. An apparatus, comprising: one or more processors; and one or more memories storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus at least to perform: sending, from a network to a user equipment, at least one reference value of a metric, wherein the at least one reference value of the metric corresponds to a configuration from the network and is to be used by the user equipment for adjustment of a set of elements at the user equipment; and receiving, by the network from the user equipment, an indication relating to the adjustment of the set of elements.

23. The apparatus according to claim 22, wherein: the one or more memories further store instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus at least to perform receiving, by the network from the user equipment, indication indicative that the user equipment supports multiple antenna configurations for transmitting sounding reference signals; the sending the at least one reference value of the metric comprises sending a configuration comprising at least one metric or condition for switching from one antenna configuration to another antenna configuration of the multiple antenna configurations; and the receiving the indication relating to the adjustment of the set of elements comprises receiving a report for the at least one metric or condition.

24. The apparatus according to claim 23, wherein the configuration is for channel state information (CSI), and wherein the report for the CSI includes indication of an event of switching between the multiple antenna configurations for transmitting sounding reference signals.

25. The apparatus according to claim 24, wherein the one or more memories further store instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus at least to perform sending, from the network to the user equipment, indication allowing or denying the event of switching between the multiple antenna configurations for transmitting sounding reference signals.

26. A method, comprising: obtaining, by a user equipment, at least one reference value of a metric, wherein the at least one reference value of the metric corresponds to a configuration from a network; determining, by the user equipment, a set of elements to be adjusted at the user equipment based on the at least one reference value of the metric; performing, by the user equipment, adjustment of the set of elements; and transmitting, by the user equipment, an indication to the network, wherein the indication relates to the adjustment of the set of elements.

27. A method, comprising: sending, from a network to a user equipment, at least one reference value of a metric, wherein the at least one reference value of the metric corresponds to a configuration from the network and is to be used by the user equipment for adjustment of a set of elements at the user equipment; and receiving, by the network from the user equipment, an indication relating to the adjustment of the set of elements.35

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